EFE (via 14ymedio), Beijing, May 12, 2025 — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez highlighted on Monday in Beijing the priority that his country gives to its ties with China, which he described as “special and strategic”, before the Fourth Ministerial Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) begins in the Chinese capital.
During a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, Rodriguez said that “fostering the best links” between China and Latin America is a “duty” for Cuba, in an “exclusionary and dysfunctional international order”.
The Chancellor also stressed China’s “respect for international law” and “focus on development.”
The Chancellor also stressed China’s “respect for international law” and “focus on development.”
Rodriguez traveled to China from Russia, where he attended, with Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel, the celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Cuban leader met in the Russian capital with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who considered that the ties between both countries are in a new “stronger” stage and advocated for “further deepening.”
During his meeting with Wang, Rodriguez referred to the meeting between the two leaders and stated that “he raised consensus and priorities that we will honor in implementing”.
The IV China-Celac Ministerial Forum will take stock of the Joint Cooperation Plan 2022-2024 and lay the foundations for a new roadmap to guide relations until 2027. Topics such as climate change, public health, education and digitalization will be at the center of the debate.
Between January and September 2024, bilateral trade reached $427.4 billion, an increase of 7.7% year-on-year
The event will take place at a time when China consolidates as the second largest extraregional investor in Latin America, behind the United States, and as the main trading partner of several countries in the region, such as Brazil, Chile and Peru.
In 2015, China set a target of $500 billion in annual bilateral trade and $250 billion in cumulative investment in the Latin American and Caribbean region ten years later.
According to official data, between January and September 2024, bilateral trade reached $427.4 billion, an increase of 7.7% year-on-year.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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