According to Wu, Premier Li's visit will be important to "achieving an early harvest" in all-round cooperation between the two, "because these four Latin American countries have everything to foster cooperation both on an individual basis and collectively."
China's Deputy Trade Minister Tong Daochi explained that Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile are all major Latin American countries, and also China's main economic and trade partners in the region.
Official figures show China has been Brazil's biggest trade partner for six years in a row. Meanwhile, it has been Chile and Peru's biggest trade partner, and Colombia's second-biggest.
Li's visit will "consolidate one stage in the relationship between China and Latin America, and opens another new stage," said Osvaldo Rosales, director of International Trade and Integration at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
CONTRIBUTION TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC GROWTH
China and CELAC together have a third of the world's population, a fifth of the planet's territory and an eighth of the global economy, and represent major forces that can spur the sluggish recovery of the global economy.
Over the past decade, even when the global financial crisis rampaged in 2008, both China and Latin America have showed strong resilience and steady growth potential.
Currently both China and Latin America have seen the economic development slowing down, and face similar challenges in their push to transform and restructure the economy.
Enrique Garcia, executive president of the Development Bank of Latin America, believes the two sides face a good opportunity to modernize bilateral cooperation in their concerted efforts to deepen reforms.
"Now that prices are going to come down, China's growth rate is going to be lower, and Latin America isn't in crisis, it is a good time to take the right steps and make a productive transformation that is inclusive and sustainable," he said.
