Special Report: Xi's trip opens new horizon for ties with Latin America (2)

CONCRETE RESULTS

During Xi's stay in Trinidad and Tobago, China and the English-speaking Caribbean country inked a host of agreements on economic cooperation and cultural exchanges.

Both sides agreed to boost trade and investment. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said her country's embassy in China would be fully operational by the time of her visit to China later this year.

Xi also attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a children's hospital funded by China in the central city of Couva.

In a luncheon with leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, Xi pledged to scale up assistance to Caribbean nations so as to give impetus to cooperation between China and the region.

China will set up one or two technology centers in the next three years to showcase its agricultural technologies, send 100 doctors to the Caribbean region, train 100 part-time postgraduate students and provide scholarships for 1,000 students from the region.

In Costa Rica, leaders of the two sides agreed to push forward pragmatic cooperation.

China pledged to support Costa Rica in the construction of a special economic zone, while Costa Rica welcomed Chinese investment. The two countries are also mulling cooperation in clean energy.

They agreed to strengthen youth and local-level exchanges and implement projects related to overseas studies and Confucius Institutes.

China will continue to provide personnel training for Costa Rica while the Latin American country will simplify visa procedures for Chinese travellers to facilitate people-to-people exchanges.

In Mexico, Xi and President Enrique Pena Nieto agreed to lift their countries' relations to comprehensive strategic partnership.

After their talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a dozen agreements covering bilateral cooperation in energy, mining, infrastructure, trade, investment, education and banking.

China will build a Chinese culture center in Mexico City, the first in Latin America, and Mexico will establish a Mexican culture center in Beijing.

China promised to offer 300 scholarships to Mexican students, while the National Autonomous University of Mexico will establish a center of Mexican studies in Beijing Foreign Studies University.

In addition, the two sides will promote cooperation in such areas as clean and renewable energy, the prevention and control of environmental pollution, biotechnology and nanotechnology.

China and Mexico support the establishment of the China-Latin America cooperation forum and promote the overall cooperation between China and Latin America to a higher level.