BEIJING, April 18 -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay visits to four Latin American countries from April 19 to 26, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Friday.

Wang will visit Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil, Hua told a regular press briefing.

During the visit, Wang will meet with President of Council of State of Cuba Raul Castro Ruz, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff as well as his counterparts from the four countries, she said.

He will co-chair the first ministerial-level dialogue between China and Brazil with Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, Hua added.

She said Wang's visit aims to advance China's relations with Latin American nations.

China hopes that Wang's visit to the four countries will enhance high-level exchanges, boost pragmatic cooperation and beef up exchanges and cooperation between foreign ministries of China and the four countries, she said.

Noting that China's relations with Latin American countries have made remarkable progress in recent years, Hua said it is in line with the common interests of China and Latin American countries to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation.

Hua also mourned the death of Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Colombian writer most famous for his work "One Hundred Years of Solitude."

She said Garcia Marquez is the greatest writer of the 20th century and his works are the common heritage of mankind.

Garcia Marquez passed away Thursday in his home in Mexico City at the age of 87. He checked into a hospital on April 3 due to "dehydration and bronchial and urinary tract infections."