From October 19 to 29, Hu Henghua, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Chongqing Municipal Committee and Mayor of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government, led a municipal government delegation to visit Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.
It aimed to promote the Belt and Road cooperation, share opportunities for Chongqing's modernization, deepen local exchanges and economic, trade, and cultural cooperation between Chongqing and Latin America, and contribute Chongqing's strength to the stable and long-term cooperation between China and Latin America in the new era.
The city view of Chongqing. (Photo provided to iChongqing)
During the visit, the delegation met with officials from the Mexican and Colombian ministries of foreign affairs as well as the municipal governments of Mexico City, Bogota, the State of Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. The delegation also extensively exchanged with members of political, business, and academic circles, comprehensively introduced Chongqing's development blueprint for the new era, and discussed matters of deeper cooperation.
Hu Henghua said that Chongqing is solidly implementing national strategies such as the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and accelerating the construction of a national advanced manufacturing center, a financial center in western China, an international consumption center, and an international comprehensive transportation hub. As a result, the economy continues to rebound and improve, and the city makes steady progress in high-quality development.
Chongqing is ready to share the opportunities of modernization with Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and other Latin American countries, expand contacts and exchanges at all levels, and strengthen industrial matchmaking, innovation collaboration, trade cooperation, and cultural exchanges so as to jointly write a new chapter of win-win cooperation in the new era.
Promoting industrial collaboration and economic and trade matchmaking is an integral part of this visit. Hu attended the China (Chongqing)-Mexico Investment and Commercial Cooperation Promotion Conference, the China (Chongqing)-Colombia International Cooperation Forum on New Energy Vehicles, and the China (Chongqing)-Brazil Investment and Trade Cooperation Promotion Conference. He also participated in brand promotions of Chang'an Automobile and Seres and visited Fortune Global 500 enterprises in food processing and other fields in Mexico and Brazil to promote industrial cooperation in intelligent connected new energy vehicles, food, and agricultural product processing.
Three investment and trade promotions were held, attracting more than 600 Chinese and foreign enterprises. Twenty-one projects were signed, with a total investment and trade value of 21.53 billion yuan (USD 2.9 billion). Moreover, Chongqing automobile brand promotions were held to introduce Chongqing-made automobiles to the Latin American market. As a result, automakers such as Chang'an, Seres, and Livan Automobile signed sales agreements valued at more than 2 billion U.S. dollars with local dealers.
In Mexico City and Bogota, Hu attended the signing ceremonies of the "China Time" project in Mexico and Colombia and the signing ceremony of the Luban Workshop project in Mexico, respectively.
"China Time" is a sub-project of China's international cultural exchange program, "China Television Theater". This project, as a complement to "China Television Theater" in Latin America, will better tell Chinese stories and convey Chinese friendship. Luban Workshop is a national, international exchange brand for vocational education. As the first Luban Workshop in Latin America, the Mexican Luban Workshop will facilitate the transfer of Chinese technologies and the overseas expansion of Chinese enterprises.
In terms of local exchanges, Hu, on behalf of the Chongqing municipal government, signed memorandums of understanding on friendly cooperation with Mexico City and the State of Sao Paulo, respectively, in a bid to deepen cooperation with the two in the economy, trade, education, people-to-people exchanges, and other areas. Hu also visited the Institute for Technological Research of the State of São Paulo S.A. and investigated urban planning, construction and governance, cultural heritage protection, and integrated cultural and tourism development in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.