The restructuring of global value chains, geopolitical tensions among major economies, the digital and energy transitions, and growing pressures on the multilateral system have created an international landscape marked by high uncertainty that calls for coordinated responses among regions. In this context, the relationship between China and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has evolved from a peripheral link to become one of the structural pillars of the region’s integration into the global economy.

In this regard, it should be noted that China’s share of regional foreign trade rose from 1.7% in 2000 to 17.0% in 2023, and that, since 2019, it has been LAC’s second-largest trading partner. Furthermore, in 2024, bilateral trade reached approximately US$477.6 billion, with growth concentrated in emerging sectors such as renewable energy, energy transition minerals and electric mobility. This development reflects a growing complementarity between the two regions: China leads the energy transition value chains, but requires the inputs that LAC possesses in abundance. The region, for its part, needs investment, technology and market access to drive its productive transformation.

However, this relationship presents a paradox that also poses a development challenge. In particular, its sustained quantitative expansion coexists with a quality of trade that has not improved at the same pace. On the one hand, from 2018 onwards, LAC’s medium- and high-tech exports to China fell to levels below 5%, while imports from China at that same level have exceeded 60% since 2003. Furthermore, basic raw materials went from 31% of regional exports to China in the 2000–2002 period to 80% in the 2020–2022 period. In addition, the diversification of cooperation and investment into areas such as technology, sustainable agriculture, services and emerging industries remains insufficient in relation to the potential of both parties.

In this regard, addressing these challenges requires forums for strategic reflection that go beyond the bilateral sphere and bring together integration bodies, academic institutions, the business sector and government authorities in a dialogue aimed at producing shared knowledge and generating recommendations designed to overcome these challenges. However, the lack of such platforms hinders the development of a coordinated bi-regional vision that would enable economic and trade connectivity to translate into mutual benefit.

That is why the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA), in accordance with its mandate to promote regional integration and strengthen the position of Latin America and the Caribbean on the international stage, has taken on the task of facilitating dialogue with strategic partners outside the region. Thus, recognising that integration cannot be confined exclusively to intra-regional relations, SELA has promoted, in partnership with the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a bi-regional dialogue mechanism that seeks to bring together the perspectives of both parties on areas of shared interest.

As a result of this institutional effort, the “First Development Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean with China,” held in Beijing on 27 and 28 August 2024, launched this process by bringing together high-level representatives from subregional integration bodies, academic institutions and government authorities from both regions. Following this meeting, in August 2024, SELA published the book The Relationship of Latin America and the Caribbean with China: notes for a development agenda, a benchmark assessment of the state of bi-regional relations. Subsequently, the “II Latin America and the Caribbean-China Development Forum: mutual learning in modernisation and high-level cooperation,” held on 11 June 2025 in Lima, in partnership with the Andean Community (CAN) and ILAS-CASS, broadened the base of participating stakeholders and incorporated new thematic areas such as global governance, emerging industries and the services sector. Furthermore, at that meeting, a key agreement was reached to establish the Forum as a permanent platform for strategic dialogue, with the venue alternating between the two regions. The participants also emphasised the need to move towards a form of cooperation that goes beyond the trade in raw materials, promoting technology transfer, knowledge-sharing and innovation applied to production and social processes.

Building on this process and as part of SELA’s Work Programme for 2026–2029, the organisation has convened the III Forum under the title “Economic and trade connectivity for enhanced cooperation and shared social prosperity.”

This edition is based on a central premise: economic and trade connectivity between China and LAC, on its own, does not guarantee that the benefits of trade will translate into productive transformation, innovation or social welfare for the peoples of both regions. If current trends persist, the region will continue to concentrate its exports in low-technology sectors, reinforcing a pattern that fuels reprimarisation and limits access to the benefits of shared modernisation. It is therefore necessary for the bi-regional dialogue to move towards identifying mechanisms that will enable cooperation and investment to be channelled towards high value-added sectors, strengthen productive and technological capacities, and create the conditions for shared and sustainable prosperity.

To create a space for high-level strategic dialogue between institutional, academic and business stakeholders from Latin America, the Caribbean and China, with a view to reaching shared assessments, identifying opportunities for cooperation and investment, and formulating recommendations that contribute to sustainable development and the mutual benefit of both regions.

Specifically, this activity aims to:

• Examine recent trends and prospects for economic, trade and cooperation relations between LAC and China, with a focus on the priority areas identified in previous editions of the Forum and the current global geopolitical landscape.
• Facilitate the exchange of experiences and proposals between subregional integration bodies, academic institutions, government bodies and business stakeholders from both regions in strategic sectors such as productive investment, technological cooperation, sustainable agriculture, infrastructure and renewable energy.
• Produce technical and analytical inputs to inform decision-making processes regarding bi-regional cooperation, in particular within the China-CELAC Forum.
• Make progress towards institutionalising the Forum as a permanent platform for reflection and coordination between the two regions.

Senior government officials and diplomats from the People’s Republic of China and from Latin American and Caribbean countries; officials and experts from regional and subregional integration organisations; representatives of international organisations, development banks and cooperation agencies; academics, think tanks and research institutions from both regions; as well as business sector stakeholders involved in the strategic areas of the bi-regional relationship. The invitation will seek to ensure balanced participation from both sides, in order to preserve the Forum’s character as a space for strategic dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Date: 18 and 19 August 2026.

Time: 09:00 – 17:00 (Zhengzhou, China time).

Language: simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, English and Mandarin Chinese.

Format: Hybrid.

• In-person: Sessions will take place in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China. Attendance is by invitation from the organisers.
• Virtual: Open to the public, free registration.

Registration link: https://tinyurl.com/III-Foro-ALC-CHINA

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