At the invitation of CAFIU, a 15-member delegation headed by Mr. Rodrigo Penailillo, former interior minister of Chile and consisting of representatives from the political circle, think tanks, NGOs and media in Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica visited Beijing, Jilin and Shanghai from Sep.4-13, 2016.

 

In Beijing, Mr. Ai Ping, Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and CAFIU Vice-President gave the delegation a briefing on G20 Hang Zhou Summit and the “new normal” of China’s economic development, and then accepted Mexican reporter's interview from El Sol de Mexico. Experts from the Academy of Macroeconomic Research, NDRC and China Institute of International Studies gave thematic lectures on the 13th Five-Year Plan and New development philosophies, China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative and China-Latin America cooperation. Deputy Secretary-General Zheng Yao held a working discussion with the delegation. Moreover, the delegation visited the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, and News Office of China Youth Daily.

 

Apart from Beijing, the delegation also visited Jilin Province and Shanghai Municipality. In Jilin, Vice-Governor Sui Zhongcheng met with the delegation and gave a briefing on local economic development and the revitalization strategy of northeast China. The delegation visited Jilin University, CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles CO.,LTD, Hao Yue Group and Fengman Hydropower Station. In Shanghai, the delegation visited Linfen Neighbourhood and the Oriental Pearl Tower.

 

Witness China’s New Development

 

The theme of this visit was “Knowing about China”. As 11 members came to China for the first time and had strong interest in learning about China’s latest development in various fields, CAFIU arranged the visit to Jilin, old industrial base and Shanghai, the "frontier" of Chinese Reform and Opening. Mr. Rodrigo Penailillo, leader of the delegation expressed thanks for CAFIU’s invitation and special arrangement, and said that he was glad to visit other places apart from Beijing. Knowing more was very useful for in-depth exchanging of views and promoting cooperation between China and Latin America.

 

During the visit in Beijing and Shanghai, the delegation members spoke highly of the remarkable achievements China had made, saying that China’s mode and experience were worth learning. After visiting the Oriental Pearl Tower and Shanghai History Museum, Mr. Fernando Zamora Castellanos, General Secretary of National Liberation Party of Costa Rica said that the development of Pudong District showed the achievement of the reform and opening-up policy, and China’s development made a huge contribution to world economy. Mrs. Yulma Rocha, member of the House of Representatives of Mexico, pointed out China’s development brought benefit to ordinary people and Mexico was willing to learn more about China’s development experience.

 

During the visit in Shanghai Linfen Neighbourhood, the delegation visited Gymnasium, calligraphy classroom, reading room, small cinema, dancing room, etc in the service center of the neighobourhood. Many members of the delegation talked with local people. Mr. Daniel Soley Gutierrez, Former Ministry of the Presidency of Costa Rica, taught old people an interesting English class. As a “famous” table tennis player, Fernando played a friendly match with ordinary citizen.

 

When visiting Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd (CNR CRC), the staff introduced their products which stepped into Brazil and worked for the Rio Olympics. Meanwhile, the staff pointed out CNR CRC was ready to cooperate with more Latin-American countries and make “Made in China” products serve more local people. The delegation members expressed their welcome to the cooperation to make their citizen enjoy comfort and convenience brought by Chinese products. When back to hotel, we were late for one hour because of traffic jam. Mr. Santiago Chelala from Argentina joked that the traffic jam would not happen if Changchun could build their subway with CNR CRC earlier.

 

Enrich China-Latin American Multi-Area Practical Cooperation

 

During the discussion with the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, several members talked about the trade model between two sides. The delegation members pointed out the contemporary trade model was relatively single. China mainly imported oil, iron ore, copper, soybean, sugar and other primary products from Latin America, and exported electronics, machinery and other manufactured products. The delegation hoped to broaden the scope of economic and trade exchanges, so as to achieve relative diversified development and enrich multi-area practical cooperation

 

One third of the delegation members came from media. During the visit in News Office of China Youth Daily, the delegation saw the history of newspaper and development of new media, and had a discussion with Mr. Weng Xiang, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Newspaper. The delegation noted that very few Chinese media existed in Latin American countries, so most local citizens receive Chinese News from Western Media. The media members wished to deepen cooperation with Chinese media to make Latin Americans know China directly.

 

Members from think tanks and young members of the delegation were interested in academic cooperation. During the discussion with delegation, Mr. Chen Gang, Vice-President of Jilin University gave a briefing on international cooperation between Jilin University and its counterparts in Latin-American countries. Rodrigo from Chile said that many Latin-American students were eager to learn Chinese and even some primary school had Chinese class. Argentina, Mexico and Costa Rica delegation members also show their wish to deepen the academic cooperation. Later on, the delegation visited the campus with the company of the Latin-American students studying here. The Argentina students were excited to see star reporter Mrs. Natasha Niebieshikwiat, member of the delegation, and vied in taking pictures.

 

Changchun Haoyue Islamic Meat Co.,Ltd is a leading private enterprise mainly engaged in deep processing of beef and lamb products and relevantly diversified development. The delegation visited production line, food certification process and deep-processing products. The delegation members said animal husbandry in Argentina and leather processing in Mexico were world-famous. Chinese companies could have more cooperation with Latin-American counterparts in these fields.

 

Besides, Mrs. Iary Gomez Quesada from Costa Rica said there are abundant natural landscape and tourism resources in Latin America. Latin American countries should facilitate visa issuance for Chinese people to attract more Chinese tourists, helping the development of Latin American economy. Reporter Ana Karen Hernandez Morua from El Sol de Mexico said China should strengthen self-promotion to make more local people receive news from China, especially news about studying abroad and learning language. Mr. Harold from Chile suggested that China and Chile deepen cooperation in environmental protection.

 

At the end of the visit, several members of the delegation expressed their hope to establish long-term cooperative ties with CAFIU in the future and their welcome to CAFIU to visit their countries at an appropriate time.