GREAT OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHINESE INVESTMENT IN LATIN AMERICA: IDB OFFICIAL

Calgary, Canada, March 28 (Xinhua)- An Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) official said here yesterday that there were a lot of investment opportunities for the Chinese enterprises in Latin America.

China, the newest member of the IDB, has increased its trade with Latin America substantially over the last few years, Bernardo Guillamon, manager of the IDB's Outreach and Partnerships program, said at an IDB annual meeting.

"Latin America is growing very fast and it has a gap in terms of investment infrastructure, and there is a need in financing of ports, roads, electricity," he said.

"So, there are a lot of opportunities for the Chinese companies to invest," particularly in the areas of infrastructure and resources which could be very beneficial to the region and for the companies making investment, Guillamon said.

"We've seen a lot of progress in that regard," he added.

China joined the IDB in January 2009, becoming the 48th member country. It initially contributed 350 million U.S. dollars to various investment programs organized by the Washington, D.C.-based organization that works to support investment in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Last October, the Export-Import Bank of China and the IDB committed to finance up to 200 million U.S. dollars worth of trade activities between China and Latin American and the Caribbean region over the next two years.

"We are looking forward to increase the network of cooperation with other Chinese financial institutions, and we are also exploring cooperation (opportunities) in co-financing private sector projects," Guillamon said.

"We have seen more activities in the last several months...We also see a lot of activities in the area of agricultural business, in the mining, so more and more participation," he said.

"It is moving very rapidly. I would say in the last two years we've seen a lot of picking up and a lot of activities," he added.

Guillamon said Latin America and the Caribbean could offer China access to a large amount of natural resources, research and development and expertise in the sector of agriculture.

"Brazil, Argentina and many of the southern countries, are top exporters, very advanced in the technology of agricultural production, which we can certainly share with China," he said.

"There are countries, because of their geographic position, (that) could be a better option for China on the Pacific, obviously, and also countries, because of their size, (that) have large programs of investment which could be also attractive for the Chinese institutions and companies, like Brazil, Argentina and others," he said.

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