China contributes greatly to development of Latin American countries: OECD official

PARIS - China has made great contributions to the development of Latin American countries in recent years and chinese experiences of development can be inspirations to the developing countries in this region, said a top OECD official in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Mario Pezzini, director of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Development Centre, made the remarks on the eve of a planned conference in Beijing on Friday, devoted to the study of the common challenges that China and the Latin American countries face.

While a number of developed countries are mired in an economic crisis since 2008, developing countries in Latin America have managed to maintain a continuous development momentum during the period "with a significant growth rate," Pezzini said.

Regarding why these countries had much resilience in the face of the crisis, Pezzini said that apart from improving macro-economic policies and the magnification of the middle class,

the partnership with China was also an important element that is "undoubtedly useful."

The figures speak for themselves: the trade volume between China and the countries of Latin America have reached more than $260 billion, and China's investments have amounted to over $80 billion in 2014, according to China's official statistics.

China also has "a lot of interesting experiences" which are conducive to the development of the countries of Latin America, the director noted, adding that developing countries in Latin America still face a number of challenges such as unemployment, inequalities in income distribution and the acceleration of economic diversification.

The experiences that China has gathered in the management of inequality and economic diversification are useful to Latin American countries, which can be applied in their development, said Pezzini.

Furthermore, Pezzini has expressed the wish to see the OECD Development Centre to strengthen its partnership with China.

"Our cooperation with China is already significant ... For example, with the Council Research Centre of State Affairs on Development, an econometric model was developed on Chinese Macroeconomics," he said, adding that there are several medium-term areas the OECD Development Centre can work with Chinese think tanks.

As a forum for dialogue that aims to help find innovative policy solutions to sustainable growth, the OECD Development Centre brings the OECD and developing and emerging economies together.