On June 30, 2021, Director-General of the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs of the Foreign Ministry Cai Wei addressed the 31st Meeting of National Coordinators of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) via video link upon invitation. National Coordinators of the 32 CELAC member states and representatives from China, Russia, the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean attended the meeting.

In his speech, Director-General Cai Wei congratulated on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the CELAC and confirmed the important role of the CELAC in the integration process of Latin America and the Caribbean. He said, China attaches great importance to developing the relationship with the CELAC countries and the China-CELAC Forum established in 2014 by the joint announcement of President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the CELAC has become the engine and the booster of China-CELAC cooperation. Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Over the past century, the CPC has led the Chinese people to achieve the miracle of rapid economic development, long-term social stability and peaceful rise. China is about to embark on a new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country. This will surely provide new opportunities for the development of the China-CELAC relationship in the new era featuring equality, mutual benefit, innovation, openness and people's well-being. China is ready to work with the CELAC to make preparations for the Third Ministerial Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum and push the overall cooperation and relations between the two sides to a higher level.

Representatives from the CELAC countries thanked Cai for his speech and said the CELAC is the main platform for the member states to seek independence and strength through unity. China has become the most dynamic partner outside the region and the China-CELAC Forum has set a good example for the cooperation between the CELAC and other countries outside the region. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides have held sub-forum activities in science and technology, agriculture, sports and traditional medicine within the framework of the CELAC-China Forum, which further enriched the connotations of the overall cooperation between the two sides. The CELAC countries are willing to continue to maintain close communication with China, take an active part in the construction of the CELAC-China Forum and boost the development of bilateral relations.