Guayaquil, Ecuador, December 16th (Xinhua, reported by Li Guorong)—The 15th China-Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) Business Summit concluded in Guayaquil, Ecuador's southwestern port city, on December 15th. The summit called on China and the LAC to deepen connectivity and strengthen cooperation in areas such as innovation, green economy and digital economy.

The Guayaquil Initiative on China-LAC Business Cooperation (Guayaquil Initiative) was released at the summit, calling on China and the LAC to continuously deepen connectivity. Connectivity is not only a vital means to unleash potential for development, but a fundamental premise for interconnected development. The Belt and Road Initiative provides an important opportunity for China and the LAC to achieve win-win results. Business communities of China and the LAC stand ready to deepen cooperation in areas such as infrastructure, trade, investment and finance, vigorously enhance all-round connectivity, and create new drivers to power common development.

The Guayaquil Initiative calls on China and the LAC to intensively carry out innovation cooperation. Standing at the forefront of sci-tech innovation, the business community should increase input in R&D, accelerate the commercialization of research findings, and encourage think tanks to boost innovative development. Business communities of China and the LAC stand ready to jointly tap into the potential for innovation-driven growth, deepen exchanges and cooperation on innovation, and facilitate integration of science and technology with economic growth, sharing innovation outcomes together.

The Guayaquil Initiative suggests that China and the LAC should continuously advance green transition. Greenness should become an integral component of development and areas for sustainable development should be a priority for cooperation. Business communities of China and the LAC will advocate green and low-carbon ways of production and life, and be willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in areas such as clean energy, low-carbon technologies, and ecological protection, jointly building a clean and beautiful world.

The Guayaquil Initiative also proposes speeding up the development of digital economy. The digital economy represents the future direction of global development. Business communities of China and the LAC should fully seize the opportunity of the development of digital economy, promote the integrated development of the digital economy and real economy, strengthen cooperation in areas such as digital infrastructure, AI and smart city, and foster new growth drivers, so as to make the digital civilization benefit peoples of China and the LAC.

The Guayaquil Initiative also points out that while achieving a good self-development, enterprises should bravely shoulder social responsibility in terms of trusted business operations, environmental protection, community services and job creation, in order to win greater social recognition and secure their own long-term development.

During the two-day summit, more than 300 representatives from the business communities of China and the LAC had an in-depth exchange of views on the topic of "Seizing the Post-epidemic Recovery Opportunity and Building an Interconnected World".