China-CELAC Forum extremely important for LatAm, Guyanese President

Georgetown, August 13, 2014 (Xinhua).- The China-CELAC Forum is "extremely important" for Latin America and the Caribbean, and is likely to be very fruitful, Guyanese President Donald Ramotar told Xinhua in a recent interview.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's Latin America tour last month, he and leaders from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) jointly announced the decision to establish the China-CELAC Forum and to hold its first ministerial meeting in Beijing at an early date.

"China has shown great desire to be a real partner and genuine interest in developing the capacity of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean. So we see this new development and initiative as extremely important and most welcome for the people of this region," Ramotar said.

Ramotar lauded the traditional friendship and sound relations between China and Guyana, reaffirming that the Guyanese government always adheres to the one-China policy.

He added that China and Guyana are also conducting "very important economic cooperation”.

"Many Chinese companies invest in Guyana and we have a very close relationship with the Chinese government, which is helping us deal with many of our issues, particularly infrastructure issues that we are working on at this point in time," Ramotar said.

The cooperation with China includes human resources and cultural exchanges, including a new Confucius Institute and Guyanese universities holding Chinese language classes, according to him.

Ramotar also hopes to build on the success in the future, believing much more can be done in terms of cooperation, not only in culture, but in such areas as agriculture and infrastructure.