China underlines interest in Latin American investment

China's Foreign Minister ended a Latin American tour Friday inBrazil, stressing Beijing's goal of investing in the region as he prepared the way fora July visit by President Xi Jinping."There is a complementary economic relationship between China and Latin Americaand the Caribbean," said Wang Yi."We would like to deepen cooperation via the China-CELAC forum which will startthis year," added Wang, who earlier visited Cuba, Venezuela and Argentina.The Chinese president's upcoming July visit coincides with the sixth BRICS summitof developing nations, which will bring together the emerging economic powers ofBrazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa.Xi will also use the occasion to make an official bilateral visit to Brazil, SouthAmerica's biggest economy.And he will be in town during a meeting of representatives of the 33-strong CELACgroup of Latin American and Caribbean states.Wang said China was particularly seeking to invest in infrastructure projects --chiefly roads, railways and power generation -- and he touched on the proposedcreation of a "high value fund to aid infrastructure construction in Latin Americaand the Caribbean."Energy-hungry China also has plans to increase investments in major oil producerVenezuela, as well as in Brazil, where last October a multinational consortium withChinese participation won rights to develop Brazil's biggest oilfield.With its recent mass buying of commodities from the region, China is a vital tradepartner for Latin America, and in 2009 it surpassed the United States and Argentinaas Brazil's number one trading partner.Wang identified strong potential for Chinese investment in Brazil and its neighborsbeyond the $16.5 billion in investment the region received from Beijing in 2013."We are talking about means of widening trade, which is already intense, andincreasing investment of both countries," Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo said.