Representatives from China and Latin American and Caribbean countries gathered at the China Latin America Cultural Exchange Center (CICAL) in Beijing on Friday for the opening ceremony of the 2025 China-Latin America Cultural Carnival, which aims to deepen China-LAC cooperation.

This comes just days after the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum held in Beijing on May 13.

Wang Lichao, director of the CICAL, said that despite several challenges, the center has doubled its efforts to connect people and contribute to building a China-LAC community with a shared future. He said the center will continue hosting exchange activities to deepen China-LAC cooperation, foster dialogue, and build stronger people-to-people ties.

Rolando Miguel Gonzalez Patricio, president of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament, who had just attended the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC Forum, said that solidarity, development, mutual learning among civilizations, peace and people-to-people connectivity will guide future China-LAC cooperation and bring more fruitful results. He also cherished his trip to China, particularly exploring the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, and described the ceremony as a special gift.

Echoing Wang's efforts to make CICAL serve as a cultural bridge, Michael Campbell, Nicaragua's ambassador to China, said it was Nicaragua's priority to build a bridge of understanding with China, adding that while culture connects people and eliminates prejudices, the Nicaraguan people support multilateralism, South-South cooperation and mutual respect.

After a light rain, singers and dancers took to the stage, regaling the audience with lively Latin American melodies.

This opening ceremony marks the commencement of a series of activities. In the future, the peoples of China and the LAC — bound by a natural sense of affinity as members of the Global South — will deepen cooperation to tackle global challenges and contribute to the shared development of humanity.