The governor of China's central bank says his nation's trade with Latin America was up nearly 40 percent last year to more than $140 billion.
Zhou Xiaochuan also tells the annual meeting of the InterAmerican Development Bank that Chinese direct investment in the region totaled $24 billion last year.
Zhou says China sees "huge potential" in trade and cooperation with Latin America and hopes through its involvement with the IADB and other development banks to help reduce the impact of the global economic crisis in the region.
He did not announce additional investment in the IADB on Saturday.
China invested $350 million in the institution last year. The IADB is the region's principal multilateral lending institution.
