Economies of China, Latin America complementary

LIMA - The economies of China and Latin American countries are highly complementary, and bilateral trade has enjoyed rapid growth, a Chinese bank official told the 46th Annual Meeting of the Latin American Federation of Banks on Tuesday.

The expansion of China's domestic demand has been a driving force of Latin American economies, Ma Suhong, deputy division chief of Urban Finance Research Institute at the Industrial and Commercial bank of China said on the last day of the two-day event.

Ma noted that China invested a total of $12 billion in Latin America in 2011. She attributed the fast development of China-Latin America cooperation partly to China's large domestic need and economic woes suffered by the United States and European countries.

She added Latin America needs a large amount of capital to build infrastructure and develop mining and manufacturing companies.

Ma said China would accelerate foreign investments, and Latin America is one of its targets, predicting that trade with Latin America would increase and diversify.

She urged both China and Latin America to concentrate on mutual interests and benefits, expand communication and strive for a win-win outcome. She also called on Latin American banks to extend financial services to facilitate cooperation with China.