China has put forward five proposals for cooperation with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing announced Tuesday.

"The Chinese government supports the objectives and priority areas of SAARC," Li said at the 14th SAARC summit opening ceremony. "

"China respects the position of SAARC countries and the principles of equality, mutual trust and win-win cooperation, and is ready to carry out exchanges and expand practical cooperation with SAARC to contribute to the cooperation process of SAARC and peace and development in South Asia," he said.

China's proposals include discussing with SAARC about establishing a cooperation mechanism for poverty alleviation and carrying out comparative study on models of poverty alleviation, exploring with SAARC the possibility of establishing a China-SAARC regular meeting mechanism for cooperation on disaster relief and mitigation to share experience and information.

China will invite SAARC countries to attend multilateral human resources training programs organized by China, and will consider hosting bilateral training programs for SAARC countries.

It will encourage Chinese enterprises to make investment in SAARC countries and develop infrastructure and energy sectors in cooperation with SAARC countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

China will also invite a delegation of senior South Asian diplomats to visit China this year and plan to host a seminar on China-SAARC relations.

During the two-day summit hosted by India in New Delhi, eight SAARC countries will discuss major peace and development issues including anti-terrorism, poverty alleviation and intra-regional free trade.

SAARC, comprising of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, was established in 1985.

It is the first time in the SAARC history for China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and the United States to attend the summit as observers.

Source: Xinhua