China urges closer ties with Latin America, proposes $10 bln loan

China urged closer ties between his country and Latin America and the Caribbean region, and offered to set up a $10 billion credit line to support infrastructure projects in the region. In a speech at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC), Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called for the promotion of strategic cooperation, trade, and food security, Chinese news agency (Xinhua) reported. China and ECLAC countries should build on political mutual trust and deepen strategic cooperation, Wen said. China proposes the establishment of a China-Latin America cooperation forum in order to elevate the platform for comprehensive cooperation, he said, adding that China is willing to set up a regular foreign ministers' dialogue mechanism and discuss the establishment of a regular meeting mechanism among Chinese and Latin American leaders. China and the ECLAC countries should strive toward the goal of increasing the two-way trade to 400 billion US dollars in five years, said Wen. Chinese financial institutions will allocate 5 billion dollars to initiate a China-Latin America cooperation fund for joint investment in cooperation projects in manufacturing, high and new technology and sustainable development, and the Chinese side will also initiate a 10-billion-dollar special loan to support infrastructure cooperation between the two sides, he said. Moreover, China is ready to discuss and sign currency swap agreements with more ECLAC countries, said the Chinese leader. China proposes to launch a forum for Chinese and Latin American agriculture ministers, a China-Latin America mechanism of emergency food reserves of half a million tons, and an agricultural cooperation and development special fund, he said. Meanwhile, China is willing to set up research and development centers for agriculture technology, demonstration industrial parks for farm product processing and development zones for agriculture investment in Latin America, Wen added. He also asked for the exchange of agricultural experts and technicians and urged people-to-people and cultural exchanges to strengthen China-Latin American friendship. ECLAC, a regional economic committee under the UN Economic and Social Council, was established in 1948. It is aimed at promoting regional economic and social development and boosting economic cooperation between its 44 member countries. Wen arrived in Chile on Monday for an official visit. Later on Tuesday, he left Santiago, concluding his South America tour, which had also taken him to Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.