Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao said that China's market economy and its open policy will continue to boost its economic and technological cooperation with Latin America and other regions of the world.

Addressing the Brazilian National Congress on Friday, Hu said trade between China and Latin America has maintained a two-digit growth since the 1990s except for a few years. Trade expanded nearly six times from 1993 to 2003 and more than doubled in the last three years.

The Chinese president said Latin America has enjoyed a trade surplus thanks to the robust growth in export to China in recent years. In particular, export to China by Latin American countries as a whole rose 79 percent last year and 45.6 percent in the first nine months of this year.

China's industrial investment in Latin America now totals 1.6 billion US dollars, or more than 4 billion if financial investment is included, Hu said.

The Chinese president noted that as its economy grows further, China will be more enthusiastic about investing in Latin America.

Source: Xinhua