Roundup: LatAm, China should deepen cooperation agenda to promote ties -- experts

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Latin America and China should step up efforts on deepening their short and medium-term cooperation agenda to boost bilateral ties, Mexican experts have said.

"Latin America and China are hungry for real advances on trade, economy, cultural and academic matters," Enrique Dussel, coordinator of the Center for China-Mexico Studies (Cechimex) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), told Xinhua in an interview.

The Chilean capital of Santiago is currently gearing up to host the second ministerial meeting under the framework of the China-CELAC Forum. The CELAC, short for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, is the region's largest bloc.

Dussel described the forum as the main tool to bring the CELAC and China closer, which has already helped create a dozen proposals to improve economic zones, trade, investment, science and technology, education and so on.

Both sides need to set up specialized committees to follow through in these areas, as well as in the academic and business sectors, the expert added.

"We need immediate results and we must increase cooperation," said Dussel.

Sergio Ley, a Mexican entrepreneur and former diplomat, echoed Dussel's opinions, saying that China-CELAC ties need "a more complete vision."

In Ley's opinion, the second ministerial meeting will be "very useful" as to mark a new start, as well as improving China's "knowledge of the region."

Commercial ties need to move beyond raw materials and integral development should be sought after based on trade and cooperation, said Ley, who was Mexico's former ambassador to China from 2001 to 2007.

Latin America and the Caribbean "could be an important link" in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, Ley added.

The former diplomat believed this will be an important topic at the upcoming forum in Santiago.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is the most important plan made by China," he said, adding that Mexico had a long history of trading and cultural exchange with China.

"We are part of this ancient Maritime Silk Road. As we have this tradition, we want to reclaim it, not only as a tradition, but as part of this modern age of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road," Ley added.

Dussel also said that connectivity is key to the Belt and Road Initiative, which is why China has been helping invest in infrastructure projects across the region.

"This is the most sophisticated international offering China has made since 2013," said the academic. Enditem