中拉论坛首届部长级会议将在北京举行

Twenty foreign ministers from member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States will be gathering in Beijing later this week to discuss elevating cooperation between China and the region.

It's expected that the Sino-Latin American and Caribbean Cooperation Plan for the next five years proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year will be approved at this week's meeting.

Zhu Qingqiao, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official, says elevating cooperation to a comprehensive level is the common wish of China and the Latin America and Caribbean region.

"We believe that development in our respective countries means opportunities for each other. Countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean have a strong will to deepen cooperation with China. Both sides are eager to have higher-level cooperation, and this has become our common wish and a shared strategic choice."

Zhu says discussions will be focused on exploring further cooperation in such areas as politics, diplomacy, trade, and economy, as well as people-to-people exchanges.

The presidents of Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela and the prime minister of the Bahamas will be among the leaders present at the first ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC forum.

The cooperation platform was established last July during Chinese President Xi Jinxing's visit to Latin America.

The UN economic commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Bank of America, and Development Bank of Latin America will also send representatives to the meeting on Thursday and Friday.

President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony.