It brought together some 2,400 foreign and domestic entrepreneurs, trade organizations, authorities and media from China, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The eleventh edition of Punta del Este is the one that has reached the largest attendance since the creation of this space for trade and cooperation that takes place every year alternately in China and Latin America.
The China-LAC summit is promoted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and organized this time by the investment, export and country image promotion agency, Uruguay XXI.
More than 600 participants arrived from the People's Republic of China, 836 from Latin American and Caribbean countries and 760 businessmen from Uruguay. A hundred media from the region and China have attended to cover the event.
The President of the Republic, Tabaré Vázquez, was the keynote speaker at the official opening, led by Antonio Carámbula, executive director of Uruguay XXI, on behalf of the coordination of the event. Vázquez valued the trust placed in Uruguay as the organizing country and pointed out that "China occupies a central place in the future of the region that is not marked and that we must build between all of us from now on".
In turn, the vice president of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference, Ma Peihua stressed the importance of trade growth between China and Uruguay that "has grown by 28% in the last year" and invited entrepreneurs to expand their business with the Asian country: "We want to strengthen the synergy between business in China and Latin America and the Caribbean, the remoteness can not prevent the exchange," he said.
The inauguration was also attended by the host mayor, Enrique Antía, who welcomed the foreign businessmen and invited them to visit the city and the department, Chen Zhou, president of CCPIT, and the president of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno.
The latter presented the cases of Lifan and Hawei companies and pointed to the likelihood of the PRC overtaking the US as an issuer of foreign direct investment. "(China) is preparing to be the world's largest economy in the next three years," he said.
After the opening ceremony, Vázquez and Chen Zhou, vice-president of CCPIT, the Chinese council for the promotion of international trade, toured the national stands of the People's Republic of China and Uruguay, as well as the fairground where 140 companies and organizations from 40 countries exhibited their products and services.
During the morning of the first day, plenary sessions were held. Important national and international panelists made contributions on the new vision of collaboration between China and Latin America within the framework of the "one belt and one road" strategy, and the development and cooperation in infrastructure between China and Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the afternoon, parallel sessions were held on investment opportunities in agribusiness, global services, e-commerce, and clean energy, with the participation of Chinese and Latin American authorities and leading entrepreneurs in these sectors.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Danilo Astori, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Carolina Cosse, the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Tabaré Aguerre, as well as the Undersecretary Pablo Ferreri, chaired the panels related to their portfolios.
In the evening, Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa led the handover ceremony of Uruguay to the city of Zhuhai, a city in the province of Canton that will host the meeting in 2018. In his speech, the Foreign Minister referred to the meeting in Punta del Este as "a relevant and fruitful environment in the new stage of China's economic and social development (...) and the planning of the comprehensive relationship that, as a region, we aspire to have with this country, on the eve of the next CELAC-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting to be held in January 2018".
Hundreds of business meetings took place throughout the summit, both in the 140 stands of the 40 countries present, as well as in the business round organized during the morning of Saturday, December 2. To close the day, 200 foreign businessmen made technical visits focused on agribusiness -Bodegas Garzón and olive groves- and in Zonamerica and Antel's DataCenter, a visit attended by those interested in learning about corporate services, logistics and technology in Uruguay.
Within the framework of China LAC, the so-called TPO (Trade Promotion Organizations) meeting was also held between 30 trade promotion agencies and organizations from 16 countries of China and Latin America and the Caribbean, which culminated with the signing of the Punta del Este Declaration, as well as bilateral cooperation agreements between the organizations.
On the other hand, the day before the start, the Minister of Tourism Liliam Kechichián was the hostess of the welcome to international visitors held at the Ralli Museum, with national shows at the welcome cocktail, sponsored by the inter-institutional program A Walk through the Senses that promotes the gastronomic culture of Uruguay.
During the three days, thousands of visitors passed through Uruguay's stand where meetings were held and consultations on investment opportunities and the country's export offer were attended. The stand was developed by the agency Uruguay XXI, created from natural materials and the presence of national furniture design; it had a shop displaying products of the country, virtual reality experiences of tourism, culture, agro-intelligent production and technology of Uruguay.
China represents the second largest economy in the world with a growing importance at a global level that is explained, among other reasons, by having the highest GDP growth rate in the last two decades (about 10% annual average). Specifically, the Chinese economy accounted for 15% of global GDP in 2016.
The Asian country is investing more and more in the region. Latin America and the Caribbean is the second region that receives more Foreign Direct Investment from China with 14% of the total.
China is Uruguay's main trading partner. In 2016, trade between the two countries accounted for 20% of Uruguay's total international trade flow of goods, with an exchange of approximately US$ 3,373 million. Likewise, in the first nine months of 2017, trade between the two countries grew 19% in year-on-year comparison, totaling US$ 3,250 million. In the last decade, Uruguayan exports to the Asian country increased 22% on average per year.
Source: Uruguay XXI
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