Foreign Minister Wang Yi published a signed article in the Observer newspaper of Colombia： Times urge people to advance, and cooperation is at the right time.

[Image from The Observer]

　　CCTV News:On January 19th, the Observer, an important Colombian mainstream media, published a signed article by Foreign Minister Wang Yi entitled "Times urge people to advance, and cooperation is at the right time", introducing the second ministerial meeting of the China-Latin America Forum. The full text is as follows:

　　On January 22nd, the second ministerial meeting of China-Latin America Forum will be held in Santiago, Chile. This is an important practice of China’s diplomacy towards Latin America and the Caribbean after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and it is also the opening work of China-Latin America relations in the new era. China and Latin America will sum up their achievements, plan the future and push China-Latin America comprehensive cooperative partnership to a higher level.

　　The China-Latin America Forum was initiated by the Chairman of the Supreme Leader in 2014, which is one of the pioneering achievements of China’s diplomacy as a big country with characteristics. It marks that China-Latin America relations have entered a new stage of parallel and mutual promotion of bilateral cooperation and overall cooperation, and has achieved full coverage of the overall cooperation mechanism between China and developing countries, improved the overall layout of China’s diplomacy, established a brand-new platform for South-South cooperation, and provided strong support for building a community of destiny between China and Latin America.

　　Over the past three years, the China-Latin America Forum has made a solid start and achieved remarkable results. Seventeen sub-forum activities were launched for the second time, covering more than 10 different areas of cooperation. The dialogue and exchange mechanism between China and Latin America has become more perfect and the connotation has become increasingly rich. China’s financing package for Latin America has been implemented steadily, benefiting more than 80 livelihood projects in more than 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries. China invited more than 800 political party leaders and more than 200 young leaders from Latin America to visit China, providing nearly 4,000 trainings in China and more than 200 on-the-job master’s places. The China-Latin America Science and Technology Partnership Program and the China-Latin America Young Scientists Exchange Program were successfully implemented. The "China-Latin America Cultural Exchange Year" is splendid, which makes the Chinese and Latin American people who are separated by oceans feel the charm of each other’s culture at close range.

　　The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made it clear that the diplomacy of a big country with China characteristics in the new era should be devoted to building a new type of international relations and a community of human destiny. The extraordinary course of China-Latin China relations is an important embodiment of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core, which advocates and practices the diplomatic concept of a big country with characteristics.

　　— — Adhere to mutual respect and promote peaceful development. The Chairman of the Supreme Leader visited Latin America for three times, and made extensive and in-depth exchanges with Latin American and Caribbean leaders in bilateral multilateral forums, established a comprehensive cooperative partnership of equality, mutual benefit and common development, constructed a new pattern of "five in one" in China-Latin America relations, and described a new blueprint for building a community of destiny between China and Latin America. The China government issued the second policy document on Latin America, which defined the beautiful vision and development path of China-Latin America cooperation. China has established a comprehensive strategic partnership with seven Latin American countries and established diplomatic relations with Panama in 2017. China and Latin America have expanded consensus on major issues such as global governance, maintained good cooperation in international multilateral mechanisms, and always supported each other on issues involving each other’s core interests and major concerns. Many leaders from Latin America came to China to attend the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the world anti-fascist war.

　　— — Adhere to mutual benefit and win-win, and practice the correct concept of justice and benefit. China and Latin America take the capacity cooperation needed by each other as a breakthrough, and realize pragmatic cooperation and shift acceleration. According to the actual needs of Latin American countries, China enterprises actively participate in the construction of large-scale projects, helping Latin American countries break the bottleneck of development, improve their economic competitiveness and improve their social livelihood. The quality of trade between China and Latin China has improved steadily, and the trade structure has been continuously optimized. Latin American high-quality agricultural products sell well in the market. China and Chile signed a protocol to upgrade the FTA, setting a new benchmark for China-Latin America cooperation. China has more than 2,000 enterprises in Latin America, and Latin America has become the second largest destination for China’s overseas investment. Financial cooperation between China and Latin China is getting better and better. has signed local currency swap agreements with many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and set up rmb clearing bank in Argentina and Chile. Brazil and other seven Latin American countries became members of the AIIB.

　　— — Adhere to openness and tolerance and promote mutual learning among civilizations. The cultural exchanges between China and Latin America have a long history, and they are connected with each other and have a deep friendship. In recent years, exchanges and mutual learning have become increasingly active. China has established 36 Confucius Institutes and 11 Confucius Classrooms in 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and established the first China Cultural Center in Mexico City. The China-Latin America Media Leaders Summit was successfully held, and the news exchange center was successfully established. "China Story" and "Latin American Story" were told on both sides of the ocean, which brought out the best in each other. When some Latin American and Caribbean countries suffered from serious natural disasters, the people of China immediately extended a helping hand.

　　— — Adhere to the people as the center and closely link the Chinese dream with the Latin American dream. As both developing countries, China and Latin America share the same dream of seeking national development and people’s happiness. China and Latin America sincerely exchanged experiences in governing the country, especially in improving people’s living standards, narrowing the development gap, and improving social governance and public service capabilities. China and Latin America are good brothers, good partners and good friends. The two sides will go hand in hand and strive to build a community of destiny between China and Latin America.

　　The tide is flat and the shore is wide, and the wind is sailing at the right time. The diplomacy of a big country with China characteristics has entered a new era, and China-Latin America relations have also ushered in a new starting point for development. The second ministerial meeting of the China-Latin America Forum will unite the development aspirations and cooperation between the two sides of the ocean.

　　In 2013, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader proposed the Belt and Road Initiative for international cooperation. In the past five years, the "Belt and Road Initiative" has gradually changed from concept to action, from vision to reality, and its construction has achieved fruitful results. It has been widely recognized by countries around the world, including Latin America, and has become the most popular global public product. Latin America and the Caribbean is a natural extension of the Maritime Silk Road in history and an indispensable participant in the current "Belt and Road" construction. Many Latin American countries look forward to promoting their own development and promoting China-Latin by going up one flight of stairs relations through the "Belt and Road" international cooperation. The heads of state of Argentina and Chile and many high-level representatives of Latin American countries came to China in May 2017 to attend the first "Belt and Road" international cooperation summit forum. Many Latin American and Caribbean countries have signed industrial docking agreements with China to jointly build the "Belt and Road" in Latin America. A good start has been achieved.

　　We expect to achieve a higher level of strategic docking between China and Latin America in the process of jointly building the "Belt and Road". Strengthen top-level design, deepen policy communication, and formulate a road map and action guide for China and Latin America to jointly build the "Belt and Road". Promote more Latin American and Caribbean countries to sign "One Belt, One Road" cooperation agreements with China, so as to realize complementary advantages and share achievements. Make good use of bilateral channels and dialogue mechanisms at all levels such as the China-Latin America Forum to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning on governing the country.

　　We look forward to promoting pragmatic cooperation between China and Latin America in all directions in the process of jointly building the "Belt and Road". Promote facilities connectivity and create a new channel for cooperation and development. Promote the smooth flow of trade and play its role as an engine of economic growth. Promote the construction of an open economy, promote trade liberalization and facilitation, and welcome Latin American and Caribbean countries to participate in the China International Import Expo. Promote financial intermediation, provide reliable support for cooperation, and form a virtuous circle in which finance and economy promote each other.

　　We look forward to building a solid public opinion foundation for China-Latin America cooperation in the process of jointly building the "Belt and Road". "Only when the hearts intersect, can it be long-lasting". The construction of the "Belt and Road" needs the hard support of interconnection, but it is even more inseparable from the soft help of people’s friendship. We must always take the benefit of the people of both sides as the starting point, further enrich the cultural exchanges between China and Latin America, expand exchanges in the fields of culture, science and technology, tourism and education, enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and Latin American people, and constantly enhance the people’s sense of gain, identity and participation in China-Latin America cooperation, so that the people of both sides can become the main force and beneficiaries of the "Belt and Road" cooperation.

　　We look forward to making China-Latin America cooperation a new model of South-South cooperation in the process of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. The "Belt and Road Initiative" has provided new opportunities and opened up a new realm for South-South cooperation in the new era. China and Latin America will uphold the concept of openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win, strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, actively safeguard the common interests of developing countries, and guide the global governance system to develop in a more just and rational direction.

　　China and Latin America are both developing countries. China has dreams, and Latin America has visions. We are looking forward to crossing the ocean of Wan Li, shaking hands with each other, "being honest and faithful, and making contributions for a long time", jointly promoting China-Latin America cooperation in the new era, and making joint contributions to building a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, win-win cooperation and a community of lasting peace, universal security, common prosperity, openness, tolerance, cleanliness and beauty.

　　Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of China