China will commit credit lines amounting to 66 billion yuan to Latin American countries to support development, President Xi Jinping said when addressing a summit of Latin American and Caribbean officials in Beijing on Tuesday.

The commitment came in a speech he delivered to kick off a ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum, a platform for cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean nations.

The yuan-denominated credit line appears to be a push to further internationalise the Chinese currency, as China doubles down on deepening strategic and economic ties with the Latin American region.

In his keynote speech on Tuesday, Xi said China is willing to work with Latin American and Caribbean countries to implement the Global Development Initiative, firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system, keep the global industrial and supply chains stable and smooth, and safeguard an open and cooperative international environment.

He called on the two sides to deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as infrastructure, agriculture and grain, and energy and minerals, and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as clean energy, 5G communications, digital economy and artificial intelligence.

The president also said Beijing will import more high-quality products from Latin American and Caribbean countries and encourage Chinese enterprises to expand their investment in the region.

During the inaugural China-CELAC Forum in 2015, Beijing offered US$20 billion in credit to be used to help Chinese enterprises invest in infrastructure projects across the continent.

"China is doing a lot more yuan-based deals like this, particularly credit swap agreements that make it easier for the borrowing country to transact in RMB rather than USD," said Eric Orlander, co-founder of the China-Global South Project.

China will also implement a visa-free policy for five Latin American and Caribbean countries, Xi said without detailing which countries they were.

The visa-free policy will be expanded to cover more countries in due course.

Trade between China and Latin America exceeded US$500 billion for the first time last year, Xi said. That was up from US$450 billion in 2023, with China's trade with Latin America surging multifold from US$12 billion in 2000.

Xi told Latin American and Caribbean officials it was a great pleasure to have "old and new" friends gather, and reiterated that China supports Latin America and the Caribbean nations to expand their influence in the multilateral arena.

The China-CELAC forum has been a vehicle to deepen dialogue between China and the bloc over trade, investment and infrastructure cooperation under China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Xi also said in his speech that there are no winners in tariff wars and trade wars, and bullying and hegemony will only result in self-isolation.

He also countries must work together to maintain world peace and stability, and promote global development and prosperity. (Reuters/Xinhua)
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Last updated: 2025-05-13 HKT 17:01