CRI听力:China, Latin America Cooperation to Fully Upgrade

According to statistics from China's Customs last year, trade volume between China and Latin America has surpassed 260 billion U.S. dollars.

A Spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce Shen Danyang especially highlights the great successes achieved as a result of China's bilateral trade with Chile and Peru.

"China has signed bilateral free trade agreements with Chile and Peru, injecting great energy to bilateral trade and promoting the two countries' exports of untraditional products to China. The Sino-Chile free trade agreement has been implemented for a decade, and completed the period of tariff concession. The tariff consisting of 97% of the whole tax volume is canceled. The free trade agreement between China and Peru is also being implemented well, meaning a mutual benefit and win-win situation has been reached."

Many experts have spoken highly of Premier Li Keqiang's current visit to Latin America, where he will witness the signing of a series of cooperation agreements concerning fields such as infrastructure, manufacture, agriculture, science, technology and communications.

Osvaldo Rosales, a UN official, says Premier Li's visit marks another step toward a new type of relationship between China with Latin America and the Caribbean.

He also urges Latin American nations to use this trip to define their specific projects and interests, not only to strengthen ties with China but also to improve the region's own competitiveness and develop inter-regional trade.

Xu Shicheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that Premier Li's visit will further promote a deepening of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

"China's economy is growing slower; the requirement for Latin America's iron ore and oil is dropping. They have to improve the added value on their primary products before exporting. We'll cooperate with the region through industrial capacity in order to improve their manufacturing production level."

He also mentions that infrastructure has been an important highlight of China and the region's bilateral cooperation, since it requires several different kinds of equipment and thus will further boost bilateral trade.

This comes as Premier Li is set to witness the signing of a document concerning a transcontinental South American railway liking the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, Chinese enterprises invested over 12 billion U.S. dollars directly to Latin America in 2014, consisting of 12.5% of China's whole direct investment value abroad.

Earlier this year, the two sides have set a target for bilateral trade volume to reach 500 billion U.S. dollars in the space of one decade.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.