During his speech, Hu said that to forge the comprehensive cooperative partnership, both sides should first grasp the theme of common development because development is a basic way to improve people's well-being and promote social development.

He added that both China and Latin America are at a crucial time of development and China is willing to expand pragmatic cooperation with Latin American countries in various fields to boost common development.

The president said that to forge the comprehensive cooperative partnership, both sides also need to pursue the basic principle of equality and mutual benefit.

According to Hu, China will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and uphold the opening up strategy of mutual benefit and win-win progress. It maintains that all countries, big or small, rich or poor, strong or weak, should be equal and regards safeguarding and developing the common interests of China and Latin American countries as the starting point and the purpose of bilateral cooperation.

China respects the rights of people in Latin American countries to independently choose their paths of development, treats Latin American countries equally and takes into account their concerns in cooperation in a bid to realize mutual benefit and win-win results.

Hu stressed that innovation and all-round cooperation are also required to build China-Latin America comprehensive cooperative partnership.

He added that China is willing to work with Latin American countries to innovate their cooperation mode, expand their cooperation field, and enrich cooperation content in order to achieve more tangible results and better benefit their peoples.

Hu said that he has agreed with his Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia to build a strategic partnership between the two countries.

"We have agreed to build a China-Peru strategic partnership and strive to deepen and enrich the mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two countries in all fields," Hu said.

Peru, which is one of the fastest growing economies amongst Latin American nations, is playing an increasingly important role in the world and regional affairs, he said.

Recalling the long history of friendship between the Chinese and Peruvian peoples, Hu said their mutual political trust is ever expanding and cooperation and exchanges in various fields is developing rapidly in an all-around way.

China and Peru have each other's support and have worked closely in dealing with international affairs, Hu said. China has become Peru's second largest trading partner and Peru is one of the major destinations for Chinese investment in Latin America.

Hu had talks with Garcia on Wednesday afternoon on efforts to expand mutually beneficial cooperation and further develop bilateral relations.

"We've come to the agreement that China and Peru, both developing nations, share wide common interests and the same target for development. Strengthening their links is not only in keeping with the fundamental interests of the two countries and their peoples, but also conducive to exchanges and cooperation between the Asian and Latin American regions," Hu said.

"China has always attached strategic importance to promoting cooperation with Latin America," Hu said.

"I made it clear that China hopes to become a trustworthy and all-weather friend, a mutually beneficial cooperative partner of Latin America and make the two a role model for active dialogues between different civilizations when I visited the region in 2004," the president said.

Hu thanked Latin American countries for their aid during the devastating earthquake in southwest China in May and their support for China on Taiwan, Tibet and other issues.

Hailing the rapid expansion of trade between China and the region, Hu noted that their trade reached the threshold of 100 billion U.S. dollars last year, an over ten-fold increase compared to 10 years ago.

In addition, their cultural exchanges continue to grow with an increasing number of events featuring each other's cultures and more tourist arrivals and exchange students, Hu said.

Confucius Institutes have been set up in more and more Latin American nations and many renowned media in the region have set up their branches in Beijing, he said.

The mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and Latin American peoples is ever deepening, while the foundations of their ties have further consolidated and China and Latin America are facing more opportunities for the future development of their relations, Hu said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2008)