More and more Latin American countries hope to catch the express train of China's economic development

 The global economy is affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, but the economic and trade cooperation between China and Latin America continues to grow steadily. According to data released by the 14th China-Latin America Entrepreneurs Summit, from January to September 2021, the trade volume between China and Latin America reached US$331.88 billion, a year-on-year increase of 45.5%. Between 2000 and 2020, the trade volume between China and Latin America increased by 26 times. China-Latin America trade and investment have maintained a relatively high growth, injecting "power" into the Latin American economy. More and more Latin American countries have signed the "Belt and Road" cooperation agreement or memorandum with China, hoping to catch the fast train of China's economic development.

Accelerating infrastructure construction to bring benefits to Latin American people.During the 21-year period from 2000 to 2021, the trade volume between China and Latin America has increased by more than 25 times, from US$12 billion to US$315 billion. China has become the most important cooperative partner of nearly half of the countries in Latin America.

In May 2018, Trinidad and Tobago and China signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Jointly Promoting the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

At the 14th China-Latin America Entrepreneurs Summit held not long ago, Paula Gopi Scu, Minister of Trade and Industry of Trinidad and Tobago, said: "Tetto is the first in the Caribbean to support the Belt and Road Initiative. Countries under the "All the Way" initiative. This initiative provides financial support for infrastructure. If we want to achieve national prosperity and development and people's happiness and well-being, we must learn from China's road to common prosperity where quality is greater than quantity. Strengthening infrastructure can not only strengthen China Cooperation in trade and investment can also improve intra-regional trade development.”

Paula Gopi Scu pointed out that infrastructure is a prerequisite for economic and social development. At present, countries around the world are still struggling to deal with the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and promoting economic recovery is the focus of all countries. According to reports, the government of Trinidad and Tobago has formulated a roadmap for recovery, and put forward clear medium- and short-term goals to encourage trade and investment, promote enterprise innovation, and improve the business environment. The recovery roadmap has two important parts. One is that the government must provide key and necessary infrastructure, and the other is to promote the vigorous development of the construction industry required for infrastructure. Paula Gopi Scu said that for this reason, the government of Tedo has introduced support policies related to construction to build a smart, energy-saving and environmentally friendly construction industry environment. This series of measures can ensure the rapid development of infrastructure, improve efficiency, improve governance, and promote openness and transparency.

There are currently many infrastructure projects in Teto, and the Phoenix Industrial Park project is one of them. This is financed by loans provided by the Export-Import Bank of China. After completion in 2022, the industrial park will be the first world-class industrial park in the Caribbean. To be the main gateway for Chinese industry to Caribbean customers. In addition, the main infrastructure projects carried out by Chinese companies in the local area include transportation, health, entertainment and other fields. Paula Gopi Scu said that the law on the establishment of new special economic zones is currently being revised. Expected to be introduced by the end of 2022, the new legislation will ensure that the investment framework of Trinidad and Tobago is in line with international standards and best practice.

According to Olga Lucia Ramirez, Deputy Minister of Transportation of Colombia, Colombia has absorbed a lot of foreign direct investment into infrastructure construction since 2018. He said: "The Ministry of Communications is committed to two specific tasks: first, to strengthen urbanization, especially through waterway construction, and to improve infrastructure, especially at the national level, to improve ports and shipping. We It is necessary to strengthen the upgrading of ports, including the upgrading of airports. Our regulatory policies are also very strict. These measures are all to implement the basic national policies of the country.” At the same time, he expressed his gratitude to Chinese companies for investing in Colombia, and pointed out that “ I think Chinese capital is a strong driver for our economic recovery."

Hector Silva, Deputy Minister of Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade of Venezuela, said that the two countries have carried out many important projects in port construction, oil, tourism development, infrastructure construction and other aspects. He said that infrastructure construction is crucial for Latin America, which is conducive to improving public services, expanding industries, and promoting industry development, which is also reflected in more well-being of people's lives. He said: "We need to focus more investment on infrastructure construction, and invest more in projects in the fields of economy, health, education, etc. At the same time, in terms of industrial development, we also hope that more companies will invest in ports, roads, and airports. It will play an important role in construction, create more employment opportunities and expand economic development in the cooperation between the two sides.” According to reports, Venezuela is currently making steady progress in the new legal framework, which is to promote economic development and create a rich business environment for foreign investors. business environment.

Chinese companies' infrastructure construction projects in Latin America exceed US$94 billion.According to the data of China Academic Network in Latin America and the Caribbean, from 2005 to 2020, China has put into use or under construction 138 infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a total project capital of more than 94 billion US dollars, creating more than 600,000 jobs.

As the third largest power generator in Brazil, China Three Gorges International Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd. also has business branches in other Latin American countries. Zhou Qiang, director of the strategic planning department of Three Gorges International Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd., said that the current overseas installed capacity of the company exceeds 16 million kilowatts. More than 90% of the employees are local employees, which has truly achieved localization, creating employment opportunities for the local area and benefiting the local society and people.

Zhou Qiang hoped to continue all-round cooperation with Latin America to help China and Latin America reach a new level of clean energy. First, it is hoped that the governments of China and Latin America will have further friendly exchanges and promote deeper cooperation. The second is to further deepen practical cooperation in clean energy production, promote the complementary advantages of various industrial chains and the coordinated development of upstream and downstream. The third is to grasp the global energy transformation, economic revival after the epidemic, and promote the development of new clean energy technologies in China and Latin America.

ZTE has invested and operated in Latin America for more than ten years and has maintained a good growth trend. At present, ZTE has more than 1,000 employees in Latin America, of which local employees account for nearly 80%. The overall revenue in Latin America in 2021 will hit a new high in the entire history of ZTE, with an expected year-on-year increase of 37%. Tang Wenhao, vice president of ZTE Corporation, said that it is predicted that 5G investment in Latin America will reach 12.3 billion US dollars in 2025. As the top two supplier of 5G base station revenue in the world, ZTE will contribute to the rapid economic development of Latin America.

In the past 10 years, China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation's business scale in Latin America has grown rapidly. Up to now, Sinosure's underwriting amount has exceeded 300 billion US dollars, and the cooperation fields and countries are diversified. According to Dai Dan, Assistant General Manager of the Customer Management and Market Development Department of China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, the company has established contacts with government agencies and local enterprises in Brazil and Mexico. In the first half of 2021, the total underwriting amount in Latin America exceeded US$16 billion.

Despite the impact of the global epidemic in Latin America, the Latin American economy recovered more than expected in the first half of 2021 as the Latin American economy recovered and global commodity prices rose. The cooperation between China and Latin America in the field of infrastructure will be further active, especially in recent years, Chinese enterprises have successively cooperated with large-scale projects in countries with relatively high marketization in Latin America. In addition, a consensus has been reached on the direction of global green and low-carbon transformation, and China and Latin America have great market opportunities in green and low-carbon industries such as power, transportation, construction, and chemical industry.

Speaking of the future cooperation between China and Latin America, Dai Dan suggested that policy and market guidance should be strengthened, and cooperation areas and innovative models should be discussed together. Financial institutions should innovate more vigorously and adapt more to local conditions. While integrating China's domestic financial channels, it will continue to adhere to the concept of openness, cooperation and win-win, and combine the experience of promoting third-party market cooperation, learn from each other's strengths and complement each other's weaknesses, and jointly expand the Latin American market. Practice green concepts, vigorously carry out low-carbon economy cooperation, and cooperate on carbon reduction, climate change, and green projects.

The previously published "Latin America Yellow Book: Latin America and the Caribbean Development Report (2020-2021)" pointed out that China-Latin America trade has withstood the test of the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and maintained a stable operation. Important motivation to keep moving forward. China and Latin America have carried out all-round anti-epidemic cooperation, the bilateral relationship has maintained the tone of friendly cooperation, and the role of enterprises as important actors in China-Latin America relations has been further highlighted.

Tang Wenhao pointed out that during the epidemic, many companies were working remotely, especially those with overseas business, which had to face digital transformation. "Because the local bandwidth is not enough. In this way, people's demands for communication infrastructure have arisen. In fact, not only communication, but also optical fiber, civil construction, etc., there are construction needs." He said.