2009 a fruitful year in Sino-Mexican ties: Chinese ambassador

China and Mexico made new progress in developing their relations in 2009, China's Ambassador to Mexico Yin Hengmin said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Yin also expressed optimism about the development of China-Mexico relations in 2010.

In February 2009, Yin said, Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping made an official visit to Mexico, during which the two nations signed several cooperation agreements.

China and Mexico have had effective cooperation through bilateral as well as multilateral mechanisms such as the U.N. Security Council, he said.

Last year, bilateral trade suffered a decline due to the impact of the world economic crisis, Yin said.

"However, we had large cooperation projects, among which stands out the opening of a copper tube manufacturing plant by Chinese firm Golden Dragon in the northern Mexico state of Coahuila, with an initial investment of 100 million dollars," he said.

The two sides also worked closely to cope with the issue of A/H1N1 flu, Yin said.

When the epidemic broke out in Mexico in April 2009, the Chinese government responded swiftly and donated 5 million U.S. dollars in aid to Mexico, he said.

In July, China's Health Minister Chen Zhu attended a conference on A/H1N1 flu in Mexico, and Mexico's Health Minister Jose Angel Cordoba visited Beijing the following month for similar discussions, he said.

The two countries also made remarkable progress in cultural, sports and educational exchanges, according to the ambassador.

At the 2009 Rome Swimming Championships, Mexican diver Paola Espinosa won a gold medal in the women's 10-meter platform event. Her coach, Ma Jin, is one of 35 Chinese trainers working in Mexico as part of a sports cooperation program between the two nations, he said.

"Both China and Mexico will hold some important events in 2010.Mexico has prepared a very impressive pavilion for the Shanghai Universal Expo and Mexicans are taking part in the event with a lot of gusto," Yin said.

The foreign ministers of the two nations are preparing for the fourth meeting of the China-Mexico Permanent Binational Commission, which is to be held in Mexico City.

The two nations have also reached initial agreement on setting up a legislators' cooperation forum, Yin added.

On the issue of climate change, Yin said: "China and Mexico are both developing nations and we are in close contact and cooperation in this aspect."

Mexico will host the next U.N. Climate Change Conference in late 2010. "I believe we are going to see more and better cooperation in the run-up to and during the next summit," he said.

"As China's ambassador to Mexico, I hope to continue advancing the strategic association between the two nations," Yin said.

Source: Xinhua