Comrade Laureano Ortega highlights progress in Nicaragua-China cooperation at the XVII Business Summit
In the framework of the XVII China-Latin America and the Caribbean Business Summit, Comrade Laureano Ortega, Presidential Advisor for Investments, Trade and International Cooperation of Nicaragua, was interviewed on the Live Magazine with Alberto Mora of Channel 4, where he detailed the progress and projects that are being carried out thanks to the close relationship between Nicaragua and the People's Republic of China.
Comrade Laureano Ortega highlighted the importance of the summit for Nicaragua: "For Nicaragua as a country, the strengthening of this special relationship that we have with the People's Republic of China, as our president said, in his words, is a true honor, we are honored that they have decided to hold this summit here in Nicaragua," he said.
The presidential advisor recalled that three years have passed since the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and China, a period that will be completed on December 9. "In this short time we have made great progress in bilateral cooperation, in strengthening our ties of brotherhood that are historic, that are based on the historic relationship between the Sandinista Front party and the Communist Party of China, and throughout these three years we have made important progress in the realization of solidarity projects, in commercial projects, in projects for the well-being of the Nicaraguan people to promote the presence and participation of Chinese companies in Nicaragua, in the economy of Nicaragua and from Nicaragua to the region."
In this sense, he said that the summit, first of all, demonstrates this strengthening of the bilateral relationship with China and secondly, projects Nicaragua as a platform for the entire Latin American and Caribbean region from which cooperation is promoted with China for the benefit of all.
"And then there is also the work that is being done at a very high level in the world, and it is the formation of this new world order, how new models of economic and commercial cooperation are being promoted, based on respect, cooperation without conditions, and there we are with our brothers from the People's Republic of China moving forward with a firm step," he commented
"And we thank the President of the People's Republic of China, brother and comrade Xi Jinping, the Communist Party of China, its people, its government, who decided to hold this summit in Nicaragua with a very high level Chinese representation, the participation of Comrade Yang Zhen, Vice President of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference representing President Xi Jinping, the participation of the comrade, president of the Chinese Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and the participation of more than 250 delegates from the People's Republic of China, from government, from companies, institutions that came to promote cooperation with the peoples of Latin America and the Latin American and Caribbean participation, very important and very well attended."
In this regard, he said that "this is a great achievement for Nicaragua and it is not something that arose overnight, because this also involves a selection process, that is, we received a proposal to host this summit more than a year ago, we have been working with the Chinese Council for the Promotion of Trade and Investment, they came to Nicaragua, made an evaluation visit, worked with our team, we were directly involved with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Secretariat of Investments and Exports of Nicaragua as the organizing counterpart of the event."
He explained that "they were given a tour of the different facilities we have, the Olof Palme Convention Center where the summit was held, the different hotels in Managua, the cities they could visit, because they were visiting Granada, they were doing tourism in our country, promoting cooperation in this area, and after a selection process and above all seeing that there was a firm, high willingness on the part of the Nicaraguan government to support the event and that there are security measures, tranquility, peace, and that they can see in the Government of President Ortega, that government and brother people that we have in Nicaragua, they made the decision to hold the event here."
"I want to reiterate the importance of this Chinese Council for the Promotion of International Trade. When we were in Tianjin, China in December 2021, signing the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, the Chinese government's initiative was to hold three high-level meetings, as the beginning of what would be this path of cooperation in the People's Republic of China. The first of course was with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the second with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and also with the Chinese Agency for International Development Cooperation. We also had a meeting with this council for the promotion of international trade. Since then, we have begun this path that has led us to the signing of the free trade agreement, a very important historical document for bilateral relations, and now the implementation, which came into force on January 1st, of that agreement."
"And that is where holding this summit in Nicaragua fits in. Let us also remember that we were present in Shanghai 10 days ago, participating in the China import fair, which is the most important trade fair in the world, the great Chinese market. And we were there with more than 30 Nicaraguan businessmen who were promoting all their products," emphasized Comrade Laureano Ortega.
He added that "ten days later, having this summit here shows that there is an intense work of dynamic exchange and that we have been working to consolidate these ties of cooperation with China."
He stressed that this collaboration not only focuses on the economy, but also on social welfare and infrastructure development. "I want to reiterate the importance of all this work we have been doing, promoting trade, promoting investment projects, within the framework of President Xi Jinping's great Belt and Road Initiative, which is the initiative that promotes the rapprochement between the peoples of the world for trade, economic exchange, the development of large infrastructure projects that contribute to the development of peoples and to the relationship between the different countries of the world."
"This is good news for the Nicaraguan people, because it will create more jobs. We are continuing to promote projects that will help us fight poverty, which is our main mission, following China's example of eradicating extreme poverty, and this is something we can achieve here, hand in hand with our Chinese brothers," he emphasized.
In this sense, he said that "we were able to make concrete progress, to be able to sign within the framework of this summit, highlighting 7 very important projects, which are also a continuation of those we have been working on previously, because we should not forget that we have already begun the construction of the Punta Huete international airport, a mega project for Nicaragua, transformative, which will contribute to commercial logistics, which will contribute to tourism, which will contribute to business, to everything that having an air transport logistics center, such as the Punta Huete airport, means."
"We have been working with Chinese companies on a plan to expand the capacity of Puerto Corinto. We are working on this with the MTI and the Port Company, and now during this summit we were able to secure the signing of the contract for the engineering and construction of the Port of Bluefields in the Caribbean, with the great Chinese company CAMC. This will also be a transformative project."
He said that "part of this plan we have to strengthen our logistics capabilities within the framework, as I said, of the Belt and Road Initiative of China, of President Xi Jinping, and the great Caribbean port that has been a historic dream of Nicaragua, a historic right of Nicaragua, of the peoples of the Caribbean to contribute to the development of this region, of this zone, and we hope to work to begin its construction next year. This is great news for our people."
"We also managed to sign, continuing in this logic of regional and international logistics, facing international trade, two projects that will strengthen logistics capabilities, a very concrete and timely project, which will be implemented in the San Isidro logistics center, which is part of the facilities of the Nicaraguan Port Company in Puerto Corinto, where an intelligent platform will be implemented, through the technologies developed by the People's Republic of China, let's remember that everything there is already very technical, everything is very technological, paper is hardly used anymore, the procedures are online, and that will help us to have more efficiency, more agility, more control, more order, more security, in the logistics operations of that center, and that was signed between the MTI and a Chinese company CCSI."
"And then we signed with another company, which we even met with in Shanghai, where we were ten days ago, with General Mojica, a large logistics transport company, for all the package and shipping services, which is called YTO Express. It has offices in the largest cities in China, in different cities around the world and they were planning to set up a center to serve Central America and this region, so talking to them, we explained all the facilities that our government offers and the advantages that our country has and they decided to sign this agreement with the MTI to formulate, design this project for its later execution that would be a logistics center to serve the entire Central American region, so that is something important that will help us strengthen our position as a regional platform."
The Presidential Advisor for Investments, Trade and International Cooperation of Nicaragua stressed that "all these investment projects require that our country have more energy, that is why we have come, signing and beginning construction already this year of important projects, especially in photovoltaic energy, solar energy, where the Chinese have the lead in the world in terms of their capabilities, their technologies, their professionalism, their experience, also the relative costs that they have for their implementation."
"Let us remember that in the middle of this year we were inaugurating the solar plant in Matagalpa, which will be used for the firefighting systems of Enacal. Another solar project was signed with the Ministry of Energy and Mines. And now we signed this project for wind energy, the project called El Barro, with the company CCCC, which will allow us to develop more investments, develop more trade, develop more industry that requires energy and that requires energy at a lower cost. We have to be more competitive and we have to be sustainable, that is why we are betting on renewable energies, because we have the resources, our Chinese colleagues have the knowledge and the technologies and together we can advance on that path."
Another important project that Nicaragua signed was for the supply of drugs, which was signed between the INSS and the large Chinese company Sinopharm, which was donating vaccines around the world to contain Covid in the hardest times, "and is now working with our government to supply other types of medicines and move towards the design, formulation and construction of a processing, production and regional distribution center for its medicines here in Nicaragua, in alliance with INSS companies."
"In the local commercial framework, of companies that have been working here in Nicaragua, we have the signature of the Secretariat of Investments and Exports with the company ACTISA for the construction of the New Eastern Market, that will undoubtedly enhance, benefit the entrepreneurs that have been historically installed in our country, in the capital Managua, to give more dynamism to the creative economy, a new space, beautiful, safe, healthy, where these new businesses will have the opportunity to set up, which begins its construction in the first half of next year, and will have 18 months to be completed."
He also gave details of another project in the industrial framework, "the construction of a metal processing plant, and this plant is located between Nindirí and Masaya, a large, strong investment, approximately 50 million dollars. And all this means job creation, let's remember that, it means that it will require construction, labor, trained personnel, specialists, and then for the operation where a lot of Nicaraguan personnel will be hired."
"So, in the framework of this summit, being able to sign these projects that are concrete, specific, already underway in our country, is very good news for the Nicaraguan people and shows that there is active work by China with Nicaragua and Latin America to promote the common good."
Participation of Commander Daniel and Comrade Rosario He highlighted the participation of President Commander Daniel Ortega and Vice President Comrade Rosario in the summit: "The President honored all of us who were there participating, the President and the Vice President honored us by attending and presiding over the flag transfer ceremony of the summit, they held a meeting with Comrade Yang Zhen, Vice President of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, special envoy of the President of the People's Republic of China, brother and comrade Xi Jinping, and then they presided over the ceremony and the President closed this summit with his keynote speech."
"First of all, the symbolism of the ceremony of the transfer of the flag is important, as we are moving it to the city of Zhengzhou, where the summit will be held next year. Nicaragua with pride, with dignity, with our president as an honorary witness, and our Vice President transferring after having achieved a successful summit in our country, and then her speech that makes clear to us the path to follow, to continue working hard in our fight against poverty, to work with the peoples of the world, always with an integrationist vision, based on respect, based on non-interference, based on our right to sovereignty, to our territorial integrity, to the defense of our model, and thus is the right of all the peoples of the world, to develop under their own conditions, always open to cooperate for the good of all."
"And he said it, following that initiative of President Xi Jinping, of the new Silk Road, which he promotes through the Belt and Road initiative, he presented the Grand Canal project with the new route, an improved route, a route that mitigates the environmental impacts to the maximum, the social impacts, which links our historic ports, Corinto with Bluefields, and he invited the entire world, especially our Chinese brothers who have the large construction companies, who have above all that disposition and willingness to cooperate with the world without impositions, without conditions, in projects that give benefits to all of us and then to all the brothers who were present there, because let us remember the more than 70 representatives of countries from all of Latin America and the Caribbean, and letting them know this news that, in addition to being a historic dream, a historic right of Nicaragua, is a necessity for world trade, for the maritime transit of merchandise."
"Because the current routes are practically overwhelmed, saturated, there are very long waiting times at the Panama Canal, there are water problems, there are serious limitations, there are delays in shipments, increased costs throughout the world for the shipment of goods by sea, and the Nicaragua Canal would solve many of these obstacles that world trade is currently facing, it is a necessity for the market and the only country that has the geographical conditions to be able to develop a new canal is Nicaragua. And so, our president presented it to the entire world, and we will be working with all foreign brothers, foreign companies, Nicaraguans who are interested in being part of this great project," he added.
Let us remember that a few months ago the Canal Authority Law was also strengthened, "we have General Oscar Mojica as president of the Authority, we have Commander Campbell as vice president, I am serving as secretary and coordinator of this authority, so we have a committee that is ready to engage in exchanges with companies, with which we can already begin to work, in the review of the designs that exist, in the review of the studies and move forward for their formulation and implementation."
"And well, the Port is already going to begin to be built in Bluefields, Corinto already has a first stage of expansion, we are going for a second phase of expansion. If you look at the route of the canal, it also passes in some way close to the Punta Huete airport, so everything will be interconnected so that it is a logistics platform, and also contribute to tourism. It will pass through Lake Managua, so that will give us an opportunity to promote tourism in the capital city and along the entire route of the canal."
"It was excellent news that our president gave us, always with that firm vision, with that message of brotherhood with the peoples of the world, and our special message to the Chinese brothers of openness to cooperation in all fields," he concluded.
