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China offers $3b in loans to Caribbean

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Published: 
Monday, June 3, 2013
Four stunning leading women, from left, Denise Rodriguez-Archie, wife of Chief Justice Ivor Archie; Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, Peng Liyuan, First Lady of the People's Republic of China, and Reema Carmona, wife of T&T’s President, at a state banquet hosted by President Anthony Carmona at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre. PHOTO: ANDRE ALEXANDER

China’s President Xi Jinping has offered concessionary loans to nine Caribbean countries totaling some $3 billion, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday. Details of the offer were not immediately disclosed, but Persad-Bissessar told reporters the loans would be earmarked for infrastructure and development projects across the Caribbean. “We really welcomed that generosity,” she said.

 

China’s ambassador to T&T, Hung Caio Ming, was also unable to say what specific projects the loans are intended to finance but he said such loans from Beijing are “something that will be increased in the future.” President Xi and his delegation departed yesterday after meeting with various Caribbean leaders in Port-of-Spain. This country was the first stop of a four-country trip in the region for Xi. He headed for Costa Rica, and also planned stops in Mexico and the United States.

 

On Saturday, Xi said China always views its relationship with the Caribbean “from a strategic perspective and we are committed to the building of a comprehensive and co-operative partnership.” His visit to T&T came a few days after US Vice-President Joe Biden met with political leaders from across the Caribbean to sign a trade agreement and discuss a range of security, investment and energy issues.

 

During his stay, Xi also announced that China was awarding a $250 million loan to build a children’s hospital and signed a memorandum of understanding to advance co-operation in energy, mineral and infrastructure development, among other areas. In recent years, China has stepped up its investments across the region. The Asian economic giant has lent and invested tens of billions of dollars in Latin American countries for a guaranteed flow of commodities.

 

Latin America now imports more from China than it does from the European Union, according to the UN economic agency for the region.


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