Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 30, 2004
China suggests FEALAC growth reality-based, future-oriented
The growth of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) should be reality-based and future-oriented, with cooperation constantly deepened step by step, a senior Chinese official said Friday.
The growth of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) should be reality-based and future-oriented, with cooperation constantly deepened step by step, a senior Chinese official said Friday.
"The forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation, which we jointly established four years ago, has opened the door to enhanced cooperation and greater efforts for common development between our two big regions, built a bridge for inter-continental dialogue and exchanges and blazed a new path for South-South cooperation," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the plenary session of the Second Foreign Ministers' Meeting of FEALAC.
To date, the member states have carried out a number of cooperation programs in such fields as politics, culture, press, economy, trade, environment and health, and they are working hard to explore cooperation in other fields, like science and technology, finance and investment, Wang said.
However, he added, most of East Asian and Latin American nations are developing countries who will have to overcome quite afew difficulties and obstacles on the way ahead, with 720 million living in poverty out of the two billion population in East Asia and 130 million subject to poverty out of 500 million population in Latin America.
"Stronger inter-regional dialogue, exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation will be helpful for us to achieve development and prosperity," Wang said.
He said the purposes and principles of the Forum must be upheldas they are the fundamental prerequisite for the cooperation to go further, with the pursuit of common development and pursuit of common development and prosperity to be the long-term goal of the forum.
He added that to tap the potential and deepen pragmatic cooperation is an important channel for the forum to grow steadilyand it is imperative to seek the broadest common interests for East Asia and Latin America to achieve development.
Wang also welcomed the new participation of Guatemala and Nicaragua in the forum at the meeting, which raised the member states to 32.
Delegates from all member states met in Tagaytay City, south toManila to give the moving will and the guiding spirit of the members to the Manila Plan of action, which is expected to be adopted Saturday.