Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the third Ministers' Meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (China-CELAC Forum) via video link on Friday, calling for adding momentum to cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries.

Xi said over the last seven years since the establishment of the China-CELAC Forum, the two sides have acted on the forum's founding purpose of strengthening unity and cooperation and advancing South-South cooperation, turned it into a major platform for pursuing mutual benefit, and taken China-LAC relations into a new era featuring equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness, and benefits for the people.

Xi stressed that the world today has entered a new period of volatility and transformation, saying that both China and LAC countries faced the new task of the times, which was to promote post-COVID recovery and deliver happiness and well-being to the people.

LAC countries are welcome to take an active part in the Global Development Initiative and work together with China to tide over this difficult time, create more opportunities, and build a global community of development with a shared future, Xi said.

"History teaches us that peaceful development, equity and justice, and win-win cooperation represent the right way forward. China and LAC countries are all developing countries. We are comprehensive cooperative partners of equality, mutual benefit and common development, and our shared aspiration for independence, development and rejuvenation has brought us closer together," Xi said.

He called on the two sides to jointly draw up a blueprint for China-LAC relations, add momentum to China-LAC cooperation, and make new contributions to the well-being of their peoples and to the cause of human progress.