On March 3, 2025, at the invitation of Fernando Lugris, Head of the Mission from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Ambassador of Uruguay to China, Yang Wanming, President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), had a group meeting with the diplomatic envoys of LAC countries to China at the Embassy of Uruguay in China.
Speaking highly of the relations between China and LAC countries, Yang Wanming noted that amid a complex international environment, the Global South is growing with a strong momentum and profoundly reshaping the world's political, economic and cultural landscapes. It has become a key driving force for the transformation of the international order. President Xi Jinping's sixth successful visit to the LAC region in November last year signified that the vision of building a China-LAC community with a shared future is taking deeper root and blossoming in the region. As a natural member of the Global South, China has taken solid steps towards its own path of modernization. LAC countries have, on the whole, maintained steady development. China and LAC countries have actively strengthened solidarity and cooperation, continuously injecting stability and positive energy into this volatile world.
Yang Wanming said that people-to-people exchanges provide an endless source of strength for state-to-state relations. Looking to the future, the CPAFFC is willing to work closely with the embassies of the LAC countries in China to build more bridges of people-to-people exchanges, practical cooperation, cultural exchanges and youth friendship between China and LAC countries. Additionally, steps will be taken to build an interconnected China-LAC people-to-people friendship network involving non-governmental organizations, subnational entities, parliaments, youth, and cultural institutions. These will contribute insights and strength to advancing the building of the China-LAC community with a shared future and world peace and development.
The diplomatic envoys of LAC countries to China said that China is a good friend of LAC countries and friendship among the peoples underpins state-to-state relations. Ahead of the upcoming ministerial meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (China-CELAC Forum), they expressed that the embassies of the region's countries in China stand ready to further strengthen cooperation with the CPAFFC to constantly deepen the relations between their countries and China, working together to promote LAC-China cooperation to scale new heights and deliver more tangible benefits to the people on both sides.
After the group meeting, President Yang Wanming attended the luncheon prepared by Fernando Lugris for the participants.
The event was attended by diplomatic envoys from 23 LAC countries to China. Among them were Fernando Lugris, Ambassador of Uruguay to China, Anyin Choo, Ambassador of Guyana to China, Hallam Hartley Henry, Ambassador of Barbados to China, Analisa Low, Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to China, Paulette Bethel, Ambassador of The Bahamas to China, Pick Fung Ho-Chong, Ambassador of Suriname to China, Sergio Cabrera, Ambassador of Colombia to China, Ian Marshall, Ambassador of Grenada to China, Alberto Blanco, Ambassador of Cuba to China, María Soledad Córdova, Ambassador of Ecuador to China, Arthur Williams, Ambassador of Jamaica to China, Salvador Moncada, Ambassador of Honduras to China, Alfredo Ortu?o Victory, Ambassador of Costa Rica to China, Marcelo Suárez Salvia, Ambassador of Argentina to China, Luis Oswaldo López álvarez, Ambassador of El Salvador to China, Remigio Ceballos, Ambassador of Venezuela to China, José Julio Gómez Beato, Ambassador of the Dominican Republic to China, Joao Batista Magalhaes, Chargé d'Affaire a.i. of the Embassy of Brazil in China, Ramiro José Cruz Flores, Chargé d'Affaire a.i. of the Embassy of Nicaragua in China. Director-General Sun Tao and Deputy Director-General Deng Lan of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs at the CPAFFC accompanied Yang to the event.
