BEIJING — State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 23 said China is willing to work with Latin America to deal with the multiple challenges brought about by COVID-19 and jointly contribute to world economic recovery.

He made the remarks during a video conference with foreign ministers of Latin American and Caribbean nations on combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wang said that since the outbreak of the epidemic, China and Latin America have overcome geographical obstacles and carried out all-round cooperation in fighting against the virus.

Wang also put forward five proposals for the next step of China-Latin American cooperation, which included helping each other safeguard the economy and people's livelihood, promoting the co-construction of Belt and Road and strengthening global governance coordination.

The video conference was attended by foreign ministers from China, Mexico, Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, with Wang and Marcelo Ebrard, secretary of foreign affairs of Mexico, co-chairing.

Participants expressed appreciation to China for promoting international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, sharing experience in this regard and pledging to make vaccines an international public good once they are successfully developed.

They also voiced their opposition to politicizing or stigmatizing the epidemic and their willingness to work with China to deepen cooperation in all fields and push the comprehensive partnership of cooperation between Latin America and China to a new level.

The meeting adopted a joint statement on COVID-19 response.