Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Sunday that the Belt and Road Initiative has become a new focus for cooperation between China and Latin America.

Wang made the remarks at a joint press conference with Isabel Saint Malo de Alvarado, Panama's vice president and foreign minister, following their meeting.

China has always attached great importance to the development of its relationships with Latin American and Caribbean countries from a long-term and strategic perspective, he said.

"We hold a firm belief that the development of China and the development of Latin America present opportunities for each other. We observe an explicit principle of sticking to equality and mutual benefits between China and Latin America and focusing on common development. We have adopted a general guideline which is to jointly build a community of shared future for China and Latin America," Wang said.

He also noted that the China-Latin America cooperation will neither target a third party, nor affect their relations with a third country, adding that it is aimed at promoting overall development for Latin American nations, as well as their international standing.

The Belt and Road Initiative, put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, is aimed at building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road through concerted efforts of all related countries to benefit all participants by promoting unimpeded trade, financial integration, infrastructure connectivity and closer people-to-people exchanges.

Wang said Latin America lies in a key direction where the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road extends, and by constructing the Belt and Road together the two sides can see new opportunities to grow bilateral ties.

Wang also said Panama is a communication hub in the Western hemisphere with a well-developed financial sector, adding that it can become a joint that can facilitate the exchange of goods, funds and human resources between China and the region, and plays a special and key role in serving the Maritime Silk Road's extension into Latin America.