【General Information 】 The formation of East Asia-Latin America Forum-EALAF was proposed by Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong when he visited Chile in October 1998. The Inaugural Meeting and Senior Officals Meeting of EALAF was held in Singapore in September 1999. Pushing forward by Singapore and Chile, the 1st foreign ministers conference adopted the proposal by Malaysia and renamed the forum as Forum for East Asia and Latin America Cooperation.

【Main Purpose】 By the principle of mutually respecting for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-inference into each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and reaching unanimity through consultation, East Asia -Latin America Forum (EALAF) would provide a broader platform for political, business and other leaders to exchange views , and to promote better understanding, and political, economic and cultural cooperation between countries in the two regions.

【Participating Countries】 There are 30 member countries by 2001. China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador, Mexico; Australia and New Zealand are the initiators. Costa Rica, El Salvador and Cuba joined the forum in the 1st foreign ministers conference in March 2001.

The Forum should be informal and multi-tracked. It should include a political track, an economic track and an academic track which can involve both the public and private sectors. This proposal has won appreciation and support from some countries in the two regions.

【Main Activity】 The Inaugural Meeting and Senior Officals Meeting of EALAF was held in Singapore from 1 to 3 September 1999. The meeting had a discusion on the Framework Document for the Forum in terms of its importance, purpose, principle, ideas for areas of cooperation and the appellation, so as to bring about even closer ties between countries in East Asia and Latin America through in face of the challenges arising from the globlization. It also decided that Singapore and Chile continued to exchange views on the Framework Document drafted by Singapore. Singapore invited Australia and New Zealand to participate the forum.

The 2nd Senior Official Meeting was held in Santiago, Chile in August 2000. The meeting mainly exchanged views on the opportunities and challenges of globlization, the relation between East Asia and Latin America, the framwork document of EALAF, the fields of cooperation and the ways of proceeding and the official name of EALAF. The meeting selected the Philippines and Columbia as vice coordination countries. The meeting also agreed in principle that the first foreign ministers conference be held in Chile in March 2001.

The 3rd Senior Official Meeting was held in Santiago, Chile.

The first Foreign Ministers Conference was held in Santiago, Chile form 29 to 30 March 2001. Foreign Ministers or representatives of foreign ministers attended the conference. The conference was co-chaired by foreign ministers of Singapore and Chile and exchanged views in-depth on political dialogue and economic cooperation. The conference also reached consensus on the name and members enlargement and passed over the Framework Document, set down the aim, principle and proceeding measures of the forumj, issued a joint communique and chairperson's statement. It adopted the proposal by Malaysia and renamed the forum as the current one. The conference agreed to adopt Costa Rica, El Salvador and Cuba as the new members and decided to held the Senior Official Meeting annually and the Foreign Ministers Conference biannually and considered to held the Summit in due time. It made the decition that three groups be established, namely political and cultural, economic and social, educational and scientific, and consisted by government officials, private-sector enterpreneurs and scholars. The conference also discussed the issue of globlization and agreed that development is the most important tast for the developing countries.

【Relations with China】 The Chinese government always attaches importance to and supports the developing countries including Asian and Latin American countries to communicate and cooperate and positively supports the establishment of the forum. Chinese Foreign Ministry sent its delegation to attend the inaugulation and first Senior Official Meeting in Sep. 1999. Assistand Foreign Minister Wang Yi led the delegation to attend the second Senior Official Meeting in Aug. 2000. Fu Ying, Director-general of Asian Department of Chinese Foreign Ministry also Senior Official of China to the forum attended the third Senior Official Meeting in March 2001. Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan led the delegation to attend the first Foreign Ministers Conference in the same month and met with President of Chile and other foreign ministers of the members countries. China's stance on the importance, aim , purpose and principle of the forum gained great attention from the members concerned.

The major cooperation projects within the forum framework by China: The Social Science Academy of China hold the internaitonal seminar on the economic cooperation and its impact on the West Hemisphere in Novemeber 1999. The Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minitry opened the training courses on Sonic Energy Appliance, Agricultural Machinery and Marsh Gas in June and August 2001. Besides, the departments concerned in China hold kinds of lectures and interviews for the government officials and reporters of the members countries.