China's membership in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will broaden cooperation between China and Latin America, China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said on Saturday.

Closer bilateral cooperation will enhance their ability to jointly tackle the ongoing financial crisis, Zhou told an IDB meeting in Medellin.

He added that China, as a new member, is willing to share development experience and enhance trade relations with Latin America.

South-South cooperation is all the more important amid the current financial crisis, and China will expand its trade with and increase its investment in Latin American countries after it joined the IDB, he said.

Two-way trade between China and Latin America has grown at an average annual rate of 40 percent in recent years, hitting a record high of US$143.3 billion in 2008.

China joined the IDB as its 48th member country in January this year. Zhou is here for the 50th annual meeting of the IDB, scheduled for March 27-31 in the Colombian city of Medellin.

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

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2009)