Bolivia on Saturday hailed China's entry to the Inter American Development Bank (IDB), describing it as "very important".

China's entry to the IDB "widened its ties with other regions in the world," Noel Aguirre, Bolivian Planning and Development Minister, who is taking part in the group's annual meeting in Colombia city of Medellin, told Xinhua.

"We want to invite China to join the Latin American peoples in these moments of the global economic crisis," he added.

China joined the IDB in January this year, becoming the 48th member country of the group.

Zhou Xiaochuan, China's central bank governor, is attending the ongoing meeting in Medellin as Chinese representative.

The IDB group, founded in 1959 and headquartered in Washington D.C., is the oldest and largest regional inter-governmental development financial institution whose purpose is to promote economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to previous reports, China will contribute 350 million U.S. dollars to the IDB Group to bolster key programs aimed to lighten the impacts of the international financial crisis on the less developed countries.

In 2008, Chinese government published its first ever policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean region, mapping out an overall blueprint for future cooperation between the two sides based on equality and mutual benefit as well as economic development.

Source: Xinhua