—Address by Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China At the Opening Ceremony of the First Ministerial Meeting of The China-CELAC Forum

(Beijing, January 8, 2015)

Good morning. On behalf of the government and people of China and also in my own name, I want to warmly welcome our friends who have come all the way from your part of the world to be here.

Today, delegates representing member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) gather in Beijing for the First Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum, a grand gathering in the history of China-Latin America and the Caribbean relations. Your presence has brought warmth to Beijing in the depth of winter.

The convening of the First Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum marks the translation of our vision for overall cooperation into reality. The theme of the Meeting "New Platform, New Starting Point, New Opportunity---Joint Efforts to Promote China-Latin America and the Caribbean Partnership of Comprehensive Cooperation" well captures the features of the China-CELAC Forum and our shared aspiration for closer overall cooperation.

I am sure this meeting will yield rich results, send to the world a strong message of our commitment to deepening cooperation for common development, and have a major and far-reaching impact on South-South cooperation and the prosperity and progress of the world.

Six months ago, I had a landmark meeting with leaders of Latin American and Caribbean countries in Brasilia. Our two sides decided to establish a partnership of comprehensive cooperation featuring equality, mutual benefit and common development between China and Latin America and the Caribbean and officially launch the China-CELAC Forum. The decision is in keeping with the trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation in our times. It is an innovation in China-Latin America and the Caribbean relations.

Over the last six months, our two sides have followed the guidance of the Joint Statement of the Leaders' Meeting in Brasilia, and worked together to build a new, five-dimensional relationship characterized by sincerity and mutual trust in the political field, win-win cooperation on the economic front, mutual learning and emulation in the cultural sphere, close coordination in international affairs, as well as synergy between China's cooperation with the region as a whole and its bilateral relations with individual regional countries. With the deepening of mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas, the relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean are flourishing.

Our mutual political trust has been enhanced. We have maintained high-level exchanges and contacts at other levels and carried out candid and in-depth dialogue on development path, governance, foreign policy and other topics concerning our respective core interests and major concerns. As a result, our mutual understanding is deepening and strategic consensus growing.

Our practical cooperation has been widened. Within the "1+3+6" cooperation framework proposed by China, our two sides have worked hard to develop a cooperation plan for the coming five years and get the three engines of trade, investment and financial cooperation to run at full speed. A group of major cooperation projects in the six areas of energy and resources, infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, innovation in science and technology, and information technologies have been decided upon and more are in the pipeline.

Our people-to-people exchanges have been intensified. There are regular exchanges between our legislatures, political parties and local authorities and robust cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, tourism and other fields, contributing to the deepening friendship between our people and a growing interest in each other.

Our international coordination has been strengthened. At the United Nations, APEC, G20, G77 and other international organizations and multilateral mechanisms, we have stepped up coordination and cooperation on such major issues as global governance, sustainable development and climate change. The strategic importance and international influence of our cooperation has become all the more evident.

Our overall cooperation has been advanced. We have completed the preparations for this inaugural Ministerial Meeting in just six months. We have vigorously explored the political design, practical cooperation and institutional building, pooled our wisdom, and built consensus, laying a good foundation for a good start in our overall cooperation.

The rapid, all-round growth of China-Latin America and the Caribbean relations is the result of our enhanced agreement in the perceptions of the global trend, our greater confidence in the prospects of our relations, our clearer consensus on viewing each other as a development opportunity, and our stronger aspiration for a China-Latin America and the Caribbean community of shared destinies. This serves the shared interests of both sides as well as peace and development of Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and that of the world at large.

We live in a changing world, a world full of new opportunities and new challenges. The world today is witnessing profound adjustments in the international system and international order, and the international balance of power is shifting in a way that is more favorable for peace and development in the world.

A large number of developing countries and emerging market economies are on track of fast development. Through South-South cooperation, they have managed to draw on the development momentum of each other to grow in strength and independent development capacity, which consequently added impetus to the growth of the post-crisis world economy and significantly boosted development of the international order toward greater fairness and justice.

It is time for China and Latin American and Caribbean countries to advance our cooperation and bring it to an even greater depth. When combined, China and Latin American and Caribbean countries cover one fifth of the world's total land mass and are home to one third of the world's population. Together, we account for one eighth of the global economy. This puts us in an advantaged position and gives us valuable resources to bring about all-round and profound growth of our relations.

The China-CELAC Forum, a young seedling in our eyes, needs the dedication and cultivation of both sides for it to grow bigger and stronger. During this Forum meeting, China and CELAC members will have in-depth discussions on overall cooperation and Forum building. Three outcome documents will be adopted, namely, the Beijing Declaration of the First Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum, the China-Latin American and Caribbean Countries Cooperation Plan (2015-2019), and the Institutional Arrangements and Operating Rules of China-CELAC Forum.

The Beijing Declaration will highlight the political consensus between the two sides on promoting our partnership of comprehensive cooperation. It will set the general direction for overall cooperation and forum building and lay down the guiding principles for deepening cooperation between the two sides.

The Cooperation Plan will identify priority areas and specify measures to be taken by China and Latin American and Caribbean countries in the coming five years to advance overall cooperation. They will cover the political and security, trade, investment, finance, infrastructure, energy, resources, industry, agriculture, science, technology and cultural fields.

The Institutional Arrangements and Operating Rules of the China-CELAC Forum is designed to promote institutional building, as it will define the forum's coordination and cooperation mechanisms, such as the ministerial meeting, the dialogue of foreign ministers of China and the "Quartet" of CELAC and the meeting of national coordinators, so as to provide institutional guarantee for the implementation of political consensus and cooperation plans between the two sides.

I am happy to note that a number of cooperation initiatives I proposed last July at the China-Latin American and Caribbean Countries Leaders' Meeting are being earnestly implemented. Among them, the $20-billion special loan for infrastructure building projects, the $10-billion preferential loan and the $5-billion fund for China-Latin America and the Caribbean cooperation have been or will soon be put into substantive operation. The $50-million special fund for agricultural cooperation has started to provide funding support for cooperation projects. Besides, the competent departments of China have started to work on the provision of 6,000 government scholarships and 6,000 training opportunities to CELAC members in the coming five years. They have also started work regarding planned invitation of 1,000 leaders of political parties from Latin American and Caribbean countries to visit China as well as the "Bridge for the Future" training program that will involve 1,000 young leaders from China and Latin American and Caribbean countries. The proposed "Science and Technology Partnership," the "Young Scientists Exchange Program" as well as the planned 2016 Year of Cultural Exchanges put forward by China are all making steady progress. China welcomes CELAC members to take an active part in these programs.

Using today's opportunity, I wish to share with you the following thoughts regarding development of the Forum in the coming years.

First, we need to commit ourselves to the cooperation principle of acting as equal partners. Countries big and small all have their own merits. China and CELAC members, however different in size, strength and level of development, are equal members of the China-CELAC Forum family. We may come together under the vision of friendly consultation, joint development and outcomes sharing, accommodate each other's interests and concerns and build as much consensus as we can so as to lay a solid political foundation for overall cooperation.

Second, we need to adhere to the goal of win-win cooperation. As a governmental cooperation mechanism between China and CELAC members, the forum covers political, economic, trade, people-to-people, cultural, social, science and technology, and many other areas. Our two sides should keep firmly to the goal of pursuing common development, enhance institutional building of the forum, and draw up a blueprint for conducting overall cooperation. This will allow us to produce early harvest and achieve the effect of making one plus one bigger than two, and ensure sustainable development of the forum.

Third, we need to pursue cooperation in flexible and pragmatic ways. It is China's view that China-CELAC overall cooperation and bilateral cooperation between China and CELAC members should be conducted on a parallel basis, which complement and reinforce each other. We may, within the framework of the China-CELAC Forum and relevant forums on specific fields, identify priority areas and projects of cooperation and carry out both bilateral and multilateral cooperation in diversified ways to draw on each other's strengths.

Fourth, we need to ensure open and inclusive cooperation. In conducting the cooperation within the China-CELAC framework, it is important to give full account to different interests and needs of various parties and accommodate each other's comfort level. We welcome active participation in China-CELAC overall cooperation by other regional organizations and multilateral institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. The forum will therefore contribute to not only solidarity and collaboration between the two sides, but also South-South cooperation and development and prosperity of the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean, which is endowed with abundant resources for development, is one of the most promising emerging regions in the world. In recent years, the region has maintained sound momentum of stability and development. Led by CELAC and other regional organizations, it has achieved fresh progress in strengthening itself through unity and accelerating regional integration. As a result, its overall strength and international influence have been enhanced. Countries in the region have actively pursued multi-direction diplomacy, and they have given priority to fostering friendly and cooperative ties with China and other Asia-Pacific countries, thus creating more space for promoting all-round growth of their relations with China.

The Chinese people are striving to finish the building of a society of initial prosperity in all respects and realize the Chinese dream of great national renewal. The people in Latin America and the Caribbean are endeavoring to achieve their dream of solidarity, collaboration, development and revitalization. So we are bound together by shared dreams and common pursuits.

China is committed to pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace, peaceful development and a win-win strategy of opening-up. China champions and practices a right approach to principles and interests, and it upholds good-faith, friendship and justice. China will integrate its own development with the common development of other developing countries and work with them to build a new type of international relations of win-win cooperation.

Looking ahead, China will maintain medium to high rate of growth, as its economy has entered a new normal. In the next five years, China will import more than $10 trillion of goods and make over $500 billion outbound investment, and over 500 million overseas visits will be made by Chinese tourists. All this will offer more market, investment, growth and cooperation opportunities to countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the world. In the next 10 years, we will work together to raise two-way trade to $500 billion, and China's direct investment in the region will rise to $250 billion.

Our two sides have designed an exquisite emblem for the forum. It is in the shape of a pair of peace doves or two clasped hands, which symbolizes close cooperation between the two sides soaring to great heights.

In a word, with the long-term and strategic goal in mind, China will work with Latin American and Caribbean countries to ensure the success of the new platform of China-CELAC overall cooperation. We should take the first Ministerial Meeting as a new starting point and seize new opportunities in China-CELAC overall cooperation. With these efforts, we will write a new chapter in our partnership of comprehensive cooperation and raise our relations to a higher level.