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Xinhua reported last week that China had been formally accepted as an observer state of the Andean Community, a regional organisation comprising Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
China has engaged with the Andean Community since 1999, when the two sides reached an agreement to set up consultative mechanisms. But it was only made an observer last Tuesday at a meeting in Colombia of foreign ministers from the member states.
Member states said China had “always played an important role in the international community and global governance” and that its admission as an observer state was “of great historical significance”, according to Xinhua.
The report added that member states “expressed their hope that this would promote bilateral cooperation, advance regional economic integration and sustainable development, and better safeguard the common interests of developing countries”.
China has stepped up its efforts to engage with Latin American economies in recent years, chiefly through its China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Forum.
