Colombia is seeking to boost economic ties with China. The South American country is looking to join the Belt and Road Initiative, partner with China on infrastructure projects, and use e-commerce platforms as a way to further expand trade. --Chen Xuan spoke to Luz Helena Echeverry, Consul General of Colombia in Shanghai about the future of China-Colombia ties.

Currently, Latin American countries like Argentina, Peru and Chile have expressed the desire to work with China within the Belt and Road framework. For this November's China International Import Expo, Colombia will showcase coffee, fruit and emeralds in an 80 square-meter area. China is now Colombia's second largest trade partner. Bilateral trade in 2017 exceeded 10 billion US dollars, up 9.8 percent from the year before. But the country's aging infrastructure is barring more trade from happening. The consul general said for that, Colombia needs China's help to further develop its transportation system.

LUZ HELENA ECHEVERRY CONSUL GENERAL OF COLOMBIA IN SHANGHAI "Infrastructure, you can see the ways. If you can connect the country, you can sell products, you can bring more tourists. I think the most important is the interconnection about the transportation, or the high-speed train that you had great experience. China became, I think, one of the most powerful economies right now. But the point is like what we need here is the money, and we need the experience. I think it's a more safe country if you want to go in to invest, if you are going to put a hub in Colombia. But the point is like we have tax exemption for investors, we give a lot of exemption for the taxes. We are part of the Pacific Alliance - if you can see, we are four countries. And if you try to open a Chinese company there, you can try to work because we can sell almost for one of the biggest parts of the world. Depends on what you are looking for, because we have a lot of projects that the Chinese investors are going to be attracted, I think so."

More than 70 Chinese companies have invested in Colombia, mainly in infrastructure. One of them is China United Engineering Corporation. In late April, its twin power plants in western Colombia started generating power for 1.5 million homes.

LI YANFEI, GENERAL MANAGER CHINA UNITED ENGINEERING "We, as a Chinese company, we did the design and we exported all the equipment from China for this project. The two projects cost in total about 800 million US dollars. Each year, we directly hire about 2,000, between 2,000 and 3,000 local engineers and local workers. Actually, it is an economic cooperation between China and Colombia."

Beijing announced earlier this year it will push forth a feasibility study on free trade agreement between China and Colombia. Mining products, including emeralds, are Colombia's number one export to China. The consul general said Colombia wishes to work with China's E-commerce platforms to further expand trade.

LUZ HELENA ECHEVERRY CONSUL GENERAL OF COLOMBIA IN SHANGHAI "I think emerald is a big market for Colombia, and I think it's a big challenge in Chinese market. For us, it's really important the E-commerce, as you see, like Alibaba in Hangzhou. But I think the e-commerce is the most important. Everybody can see it, and you have one place saved where they can go to appreciate the emeralds, the stone, and after they want it, they can buy it. That is really safe for the Colombian producers. Also, they send it directly from the mining."

ICS, Chen Xuan, CGTN, Shanghai.