Moscow, Beijing See No Need to Compete in Latin America - Foreign Ministry

BEIJING (Sputnik) - Moscow and Beijing do not consider the Latin American region as an area of geopolitical confrontation or rivalry, Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Latin America Aleksander Shchetinin said on Monday.

"There is this one important thing, we have discussed it today and agreed with the Chinese side on it. We believe that our relations with Latin America are self-contained. It means that we do not consider this region in terms of some geopolitical confrontation or competition," Shchetinin said.

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Shchetinin noted that Beijing and Moscow were considering forms of cooperation for the benefit of social and economic development of Latin American states.

"We have discussed what we can do in the region, how we assess the region, and we have found out that we have similar assessments of the region," Shchetinin said, adding that it comprises the political and economic situation.

Shchetinin noted the sides also agreed to analyze specific trade and economic projects of the countries in the Latin American region, particularly, of Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

Shchetinin is on a visit to Beijing for Russian-Chinese consultations on Latin America. The Chinese side is being represented by Zhao Bentang, the Director-General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Department for Latin America.