People visit the booth of Nicaragua at 16th China-Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Business Summit in Beijing, on November 3, 2023. Photo: Chi Jingyi/GT

Nicaraguan exporters are well prepared to bring their high-quality products to the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai next week, David Diaz Porta, director of operations of China region of LATAM-China Trading Co, told the Global Times at the sidelines of the 16th China-Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Business Summit, adding that their major work now is to produce enough products to export to China.

The summit is held annually by China and Latin American countries in rotation. The 2023 summit is being held from Thursday to Friday in Beijing.

Companies from Latin American and Caribbean countries took their products to an exhibition held in parallel to the summit, and placed high hopes on the Chinese market and hope to attract more investment from China, the Global Times has learned.

"China for us is the perfect market for our fine flavor cocoa and we are planning to export more to China next year, which will be the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Trinidad and Tobago," Ashley Parasram, founder and director of Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Co, told the Global Times on Friday at the exhibition.

Parasram said that the company has already sent some cocoa raw materials to [South China's] Hainan Province and partnered with a Chinese company to carry out product innovation. The company will also take its products to the CIIE next week and will open a chocolate club in Shanghai. 

There is great potential for cooperation between China and Trinidad and Tobago, Sekou Alleyne, president of invesTT, Trinidad and Tobago's national investment promotion agency, told the Global Times on Thursday at the sidelines of the summit.

"We're looking to develop more industrial parks to support more Chinese investment coming into Trinidad and Tobago. We're looking to partner with Chinese firms to help develop our entrepreneurship culture. Meanwhile, we see potential in digital areas," said Alleyne.

"We are very happy to see that more Chinese consumers are beginning to know about Honduras. We hope that we can bring more products to China in the future, and hope that the relations between Honduras and China can further develop," a representative at the Honduras booth told the Global Times on Friday.

The representative also hoped that more Chinese tourists will visit Honduras. She revealed that many Chinese companies have shown interest to invest in Honduras during the summit.

Cuba's rum and other liquors are available on JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce platform. It is hoped that Chinese consumers can learn more about Cuban alcohols, Zhang Bo, an export manager at Beijing North Star S&T Co, told the Global Times on Friday. The company has helped export Caribbean liquor, honey, coffee, jerky, nutrition and health products to China for about 20 years.

China's market is huge, with much potential, Melissa Chen, manager of Flor de Oro SA, a Panama-based import and export company, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"Our company will soon export seafood to China, including shrimp, crab, yellow croaker and tuna. And hopefully Panamanian coffee beans will be exported to China in large quantities," Chen said.

Chinese companies have already increased their investment in Latin America and Caribbean countries, the Global Times has learned.

Han Xiaoru, brand operation director at the Beijing-based Cafe Amor, told the Global Times on Friday that the company has signed contracts with coffee bean farms in Colombia and imported raw Colombian coffee beans to China.

"The coffee market in China has been growing rapidly recently. In particular, coffee machines are more and more affordable, so many consumers are willing to buy coffee beans and enjoy coffee at home," said Han.

A manager at the Phoenix Park Industrial Estate in Trinidad and Tobago told the Global Times on Friday that some Chinese enterprises have already settled at the industrial park, and their products have been exported to global markets.

Several Chinese enterprises have expressed interest in investing or settling down at the industrial park, the manager said.