China's first attendance to the yearly meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is "historical," IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno said on Wednesday.

"This year is a very important moment in the IDB history. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary and China will be part, for the first time, of our yearly meeting, as the latest member of our institution," Moreno told magazine "America Economia."

The IDB will hold its Annual Meeting of Governors Assembly between March 27 and 31 in Colombia's city Medellin, 200 km northwest of Bogota.

One representative from China's banking system will attend the IDB's meeting.

The IDB group, founded in 1959 and headquartered in Washington D.C., is the oldest and largest regional inter-governmental development financial institution whose purpose is to promote economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2009)