The president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, and members of his management team visited China this week to promote investment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and seek further cooperation opportunities with this country.
In early January, China officially became the 48th member country of the IDB, after the bank’s board of executive directors approved its entrance in a voting process that ended on October 15. China will contribute $350 million to various IDB programs.
“China’s membership in the IDB, the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) opens historic opportunities,” said Moreno during his introductory remarks at a seminar on how to do business with the IDB held yesterday in Beijing.
“Our region will strongly benefit from the remarkable dynamism of the Chinese economy, and China will strengthen its relation with a region that offers vast opportunities for investment, trade and knowledge exchange,” added Moreno.
More than 130 Chinese investors attended the seminar, which included presentations on the current situation and future outlook for LAC and on prospects for Chinese infrastructure investments in the region.
Moreno’s three-day visit to China included meetings with Wang Qishan, Chinese vice premier; Yang Jiechi, minister of Foreign Affairs; Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBC); and Xiao Gang, chairman of the PBC.
“China’s 1.3 billion consumers, coupled with the resource endowment complementarities between the Chinese and Latin American economies, offer an immense opportunity for our exporters, particularly producers of agricultural, energy and mineral goods,” said Moreno.
Since 1990, bilateral trade has been growing at an annual rate of 27 percent. China is now the region’s second biggest trading partner after the United States.
The seminar showcased a series of opportunities for Chinese companies to participate in IDB-supported infrastructure operations related to energy, transport, water and sanitation, rural development and natural disasters.