BEIJING, July 18 -- In 2000, China imported only 3.9 billion U.S. dollars worth of products from Latin American countries. The amount surged to 86 billion dollars in just over a decade, a clear indication of the fast growing economic ties between the two sides.

Today, economic and trade links between the Asian giant and the Latin American economies have multiplied significantly from the level at the beginning of the century, and are ready to bring along more political and cultural interactions to forge an all-round cooperative partnership that will benefit peoples on both sides.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Brazil Thursday that China will work with Latin American and Caribbean countries to boost their two-way trade to 500 billion dollars in 10 years.

In a keynote speech to a summit with 11 Latin American and Caribbean leaders, Xi said China will encourage and support more Chinese companies to invest in the region so that its stock of investment could reach 250 billion dollars in the coming decade.

He proposed a "1+3+6" cooperation framework to "promote faster, broader and deeper cooperation between the two sides for real results."

"One means one plan," he said, referring to the Chinese-Latin American and Caribbean Cooperation Plan (2015-2019), with the aim of achieving inclusive growth and sustainable development.

He also suggested that "three engines," namely trade, investment and financial cooperation, should propel the practical cooperation between China and Latin America so as to reach comprehensive development.

Cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean nations should focus on six areas: energy and resources, infrastructure building, agriculture, manufacturing, scientific and technological innovation, and information technologies, Xi said.

To facilitate cooperation in these areas, China will formally launch the 10-billion-U.S.-dollar Special Loans for Chinese-Latin American and Caribbean Infrastructure and will, on this basis, further increase the credit line to 20 billion dollars.

China, he added, will also provide 10 billion dollars in preferential loans for Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The Latin American and Caribbean leaders attending the summit welcomed Xi's proposals, saying the region views China as its important cooperation partner and regards China's development as its significant opportunity.

Boasting with abundant natural and human resources, the leaders said their countries are pushing for reforms and development and wish to learn from China's successful experiences to promote common and sustainable development.

They also stressed the need to strengthen policy coordination and industrial connection with China, expand trade and investment, enhance cooperation in such fields as energy, mining, infrastructure construction, science and technology and finance.

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Xi attends summit with LatAm and Caribbean leaders