Guatemala should build closer economic relationship with China: former minister

As an important economy in Central America and the Caribbean, Guatemala should build closer economic relationships with China for the country's future development, said Guatemalan former Minister of Economy Luis Velasquez.

In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Velasquez said China is an important trading partner for Guatemala, and Guatemala should strengthen its commercial presence at the promising Chinese market.

"As Guatemala is the most important economy in Central America and the Caribbean, meaning we have significant leadership, I believe the time has come for us to establish a closer relationship with the People's Republic of China. We can discuss various aspects, including trade, where over 38 percent of our imports already come from China. In that sense, we need to enhance our commercial engagement, attract significant capital investments so that companies from the People's Republic of China can set up operations in Guatemala, export throughout the Americas, and also to the world," said Velasquez.

China's rapid development has set an example for Guatemala, and establishing closer relations with China will promote the vigorous development of business and employment in Guatemala's socioeconomic fields such as trade, technology, culture, industry and services.

"China produces products for billions of people, which effectively lowers the cost of products so that the majority of the population can access them. Indigenous entrepreneurship could also benefit from closer ties, taking inspiration from some of the credit access models that the People's Republic of China has provided for the development and promotion of micro, small, and medium enterprises, and forming partnerships with cooperatives in Guatemala. There is great potential for trade, technology, culture, industry, and services," he said.

"We should send our youth to study Chinese, which will be useful in many Asian countries, and they can also learn technologies that can be effectively implemented in Guatemala to improve our competitiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness, thereby generating more wealth for the majority of Guatemalans and allowing us to export worldwide. There are a number of strengths and opportunities that we should capitalize on for the short, medium, and long term," he said.

Guatemala should build closer economic relationship with China: former minister

China's new energy passenger vehicle market continued to see robust growth in September, with its penetration rate, a gauge of popularity, in the domestic market climbed to 53.3 percent, according to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Saturday.

This marks the third consecutive month that the penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicle has surpassed 50 percent.

During the first nine months of 2024, total retail sales of new energy passenger cars amounted to 7.13 million units, representing a 37.4 percent increase from the previous year, the CPCA data showed.

Experts attribute the growth to the country's trade-in policies.

Last month, China issued a new circular that increased financial incentives to encourage consumers to scrap their old vehicles and buy new ones.

According to the circular, subsidies for trade-ins of new-energy passenger vehicles have doubled from 10,000 yuan -- a figure stipulated in an April document -- to 20,000 yuan.

Afterward, several local administrations have introduced corresponding subsidy schemes.

"The automobile trade-in policy promoted by the country and the relevant measures introduced by local governments have boosted the confidence of domestic consumers, leading to noticeable increase of retail sales. New energy vehicles have exceeded expectations, further solidifying their global leadership position. The new quality productive forces in auto industry are rapidly shifting from quantitative to qualitative changes," said Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

During the January-September period, China's auto production reached approximately 21.47 million units, up 1.9 percent year on year, according to the data released by the CAAM on Saturday.

Auto sales totaled 21.57 million units, marking a 2.4 percent increase from the same period of last year. Notably, both production and sales of new energy vehicles surpassed 8.3 million units, with year-on-year growth exceeding 30 percent in both categories, the data showed.

China's new energy passenger vehicle sales surge in September