President Xi Jinping will meet the leaders of nine Caribbean countries during his first official visit to Latin America and the Caribbean, in a bid to boost relations between China and the region, Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng said on Wednesday.

Xi will visit Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico from?Friday to June 6 before heading to California to meet United States President Barack Obama on June 7 and 8.

After meeting Anthony Carmona, Trinidad and Tobago's president, Xi will meet leaders from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Suriname and Jamaica.

"The series of bilateral meetings will have a profound influence on the development of the Sino-Caribbean relations," Zhang said.

In Costa Rica and Mexico, Xi will meet President Laura Chinchilla and President Enrique Pena Nieto to enhance bilateral relations. A series of agreements will be signed to seek further cooperation opportunities in education, culture and trade. In 2012, the trade volume between China and the Latin American and Caribbean region amounted to $261.24 billion.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/30/2013 page11)