China-Latin America and Carib- bean Region People-to-People Friendship Forum

On September 16， the fifth China-Latin America and Caribbean Region People-to-People Friendship Forum was held in Hangzhou. Li Xikui， secretarygeneral of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries， Liang Liming， vice governor of Zhejiang Province， Yin Hengmin， special representative of the Chinese Government for Latin American and Caribbean affairs， H.E. Sir Rodney Williams， governor-general of Antigua and Barbuda， Henry Charles Femandez， Antigua and Barbuda minister of foreign affairs， international trade and immigration， and more than 100 guests from 21 countries attended. Background

The China-Latin America and Caribbean Region People-to-People Friendship Forum was previously known as the“Con-ference of China -Latin America and Caribbean Region Friendship Associations”. The CPAFFC and the China-Latin America and the Caribbean Friendship Association(CHILAC) have been in fruitful cooperation with more than 40 friendly organizations active in 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

In order to build a platform for timely communication， a Chi-na-Latin America and the Caribbe-an Region Friendship Conference was held in Jamaica in 1998， fol-Iowed by the second and the third conferences in Colombia 2003 and Argentina 2005. At the latter， the Friendship Federation of Latin America and the Caribbean with China (CHILAC) was founded.The organization has functioned as a permanent institution for coordi-nating activities of China-friend-ship associations in the region.

The fourth conference was held in Chongqing in 2007， whichbecame“the first China-LatinAmerica and the Caribbean Re-gion People-to-People Friendship Forum”. It was decided that the Forum would be held alternately in China and a Latin America or Caribbean country every other year. Following the decision， the second， third and fourth Forums were held in Cuba， China's Fujian Province and Costa Rica. In Janu- ary 2015， the Formn became a part of the China-CELAC cooperative framework.

Main Content

(1)Opemng Ceremony

In his opening ceremony re-mark， Mr. Li Xikui， secretary gen-eral of CPAFFC， briefed on the work of the CPAFFC in organizing large-scale activities， carrying out personnel exchanges， launching“friendly cities”programs with foreign cities， and pro- moting communication with countries that lack diplomatic relations with Chi-na.

He also put forward three sug-gestions for promoting communication and cooperation between friendly cities and local governments， attaching great-er importance to cultural and youths exchanges， and establishing closer tieswith China-friendly organizations in Latin-American and Caribbean coun-tries so as to further strengthen their influence.

Madam Liang Liming， vice gov-ernor of Zhejiang Provincial People’sGovemment， expressed a warm wel-come to participants. She said Zhejiang as a coastal province has a promising market， ample space for investment，and great potentiality for development.“Enjoying an unprecedented histori-cal opportunity，”she said，“we would like to establish closer ties with Latin America and the Caribbean region to enhance mutual understanding and trust and promote pragmatic cooperation.”

Rodney Williams， governor gen-eral of Antigua and Barbuda， said it was a great honor to join friends from Latin American and Caribbean coun-tries for a review of people-to-people friendship with China. The Antigua and Barbuda China Friendship Association was recently founded. Williams is the association’s honorary president and his wife holds the presidency. The or-ganization hopes to facilitate commum-cation， increase mutual understanding，and further develop friendship between the two countries.

The current forum， he said， had given his association an excellent op-portunity of learning and commumca-tion. His association admired the te-nets the CPAFFC had set for itself and hopes for more exchanges in education，culture， science and technology within the framework of the China-Latin American and Caribbean Friendship Forum.

He also expressed gratitude for the assistance and support from China in the past 30 years， and appreciation of China’s willingness to cooperate with small island nations.

Ms. Annette Vial， president of Latin American and Caribbean Federa-tion of Friendship with China， spoke highly of the results both sides had achieved in recent years in promoting cooperation. He expressed appreciation of China’s selfiess contribution to Latin American countries’economic and so-cial development. She said the Forum was an important link between China and Latin American countries for har-momous co-existence in the political，cultural， social， and economical fields.

(II) Keynote Speech--General Cooperation between China and Lat-in America and the Caribbean

Mr. Yin Hengmin， special repre-sentative of the Chinese Government for Latin American and Caribbean af-fairs， remarked that， in recent years，with great efforts from both sides， the relationship had developed rapidly with cooperation extending into various fields.

The Chinese Government has al-ways attached great importance to de-veloping relations with Latin American countries. Since 2013， it has adopted a new policy framework and a series of measures， and set up the China-CELAC forum as a new platform of coopera-tion. The initiatives received positive responses from the Latin American side. In the next stage， the two coun-tries should ensure communication at all levels， consolidate the political ba-Sis of the bilateral ties， make coopera-tion as practicable and possible， helpupgrade the economic and trade relations，strengthen cultural exchanges， develop a better public opinion platform， improve the overall cooperation mechanism， and build a comprehensive and balanced cooperation network. He said: people-to-people com-munication is an important part of the re-lationship. As a non-governmental mecha-nism within the framework of the Forum， it was an important platform for strengthen-ing communications and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship.

Yin expressed the hope that attendees would have more exchanges to put forward positive suggestions to promote the devel-opment of bilateral relations.

(III) Round-table conference

On the afternoon of September 16，representatives from 21 countries and more than 30 0rganizations exchanged briefings about activities in recent years in promot-ing the“new role and function of people-to-people friendly exchanges within the framework of overall cooperation between China and the Latin American and Caribbe-an Region.”They shared their experiences and agreed that the Forum is an importantplatform，“we must strengthen commumca-tion to initiate and implement more coop-erative projects.”

(IV) The election of new leadership

The Friendship Federation of Latin America and the Caribbean with China has played a positive role in coordinating all the China-friendly organizations in this region.To maintain its efforts' continuity and vital-ity， each session of the Forum will hold a special plenary meeting of the Latin Ameri-can and Caribbean Federation of Friendship and elect the new leadership. On this Fo-rum， Mr. Erik Becker Becker from Venezu-ela was elected the new president. His term of office willlast until 2017.