LatinNews Daily - 20 November 2024

*Bolivia’s President Luis Arce has met China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, which Arce is attending as a guest of Brazil’s government. In a social media post, Arce said that Xi “expressed his interest in financial cooperation and finance management for joint projects in different strategic areas, such as mining, lithium industrialisation, and the strengthening and expansion of the binational aerospace programme”. Arce also said that Xi expressed interest in the possibility of “a bi-oceanic train to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, beginning in Peru’s Chancay mega-port and passing through BRICS partner countries like Bolivia and Brazil”. Bolivia was invited in October to become a ‘partner country’ of the BRICS bloc, which originally comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa before its expansion last year. Arce added that Bolivia and China “are advancing on a comprehensive strategy that will allow us to expand the Chinese market for Bolivian products, and to strengthen the bond between our ancient cultures”.