SANTIAGO, May 29 -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's recent tour of South America marks "a very significant milestone in China's ties with Latin America," a senior UN official has said.

The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena, spoke with Xinhua about the significance of the four-nation tour, which wrapped up Tuesday with Li's keynote address to regional envoys at ECLAC's headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

Li's visit to ECLAC's office, as well as prior visits by other Chinese leaders, "confirm that China has a strategic outlook toward Latin America and that's very important," Barcena said.

During the premier's visit to Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile, he presided over the signing of a host of accords, and proposed a new mode of production capacity cooperation.

China's proposal for boosting cooperation came "with no strings attached," Barcena said, in contrast to the International Monetary Fund and similar international lending agencies, whose cooperation schemes invariably came with "many strings attached," often demanding the government do A, B or C in return for the funding.

"Now we have China, coming to Latin America as a friend, as a partner, on equal terms, demonstrating its political commitment," Barcena said, adding that now the region has a clear strategy and clear goals.

One of the most anticipated announcements during Li's visit, said Barcena, was China's participation in a proposed transcontinental railway that connects Brazil's Atlantic coast with Peru's Pacific coast, to create an export corridor that will facilitate South America's growing trade with China.

The rail line, currently under feasibility study, would cut import costs for China, by shaving some 30 U.S. dollars off each ton of cargo, while at the same time helping Latin America boost connectivity, productivity, infrastructure and employment.

With notable progress made in trade and cooperation between China and Latin America, one aspect of the bilateral relationship remains to be strengthened, Barcena said.

"One of the main issues we have to achieve soon is for us to know each other better culturally, as people to people," said Barcena, echoing a similar message expressed by the premier.

Barcena said Li's speech at the ECLAC was the most important point in the tour, because this is the UN's home in Latin America and the Caribbean, and what the premier said here was simultaneously heard in the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, because the ECLAC was connected to the entire region.

Barcena noted that the speech was published in Central America, the Caribbean and even in New York, at the United Nation Secretariat, which sent her a "nice message" describing Li's visit to the organization's headquarters as "positive."