Full coverage: Xi Visits Ecuador, Peru and Chile, Attends APEC Summit
President Xi's final stop on his tour of Latin America will be in Chile. China is Chile's biggest trading partner -- a relationship built in part on a free trade agreement dating back to 2005. Back then, Chile was the first Latin American nation to sign such a deal with China. Hopes in Santiago now are that this visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping will build on those gains. CCTV's Paulo Cabral reports from Santiago.
This is the China Mall in Chile's capital Santiago. Most shops here are Chinese owned and operated - and most of the products come from China. As in many parts of the world, Chile's marketplace is dominated by Chinese manufacturing.
Trade between Chile and China boomed after 2006 when the two countries' free-trade agreement - came into force.
Since then, Chilean imports from China have more than tripled from $4.4 billion in 2006 to almost 15 billion (14.8 billion) last year. And the country's exports to China grew at a similar pace: from $5.3 billion in 2006 to 16.7 billion in 2015. China is now the top destination of all Chilean exports and also its main source of imports.
"Chile imports mainly manufactured goods from China and exports raw materials and agricultural products to the Chinese. While this remains a win-win scenario there's also an effort in Chile to increase their international sales of other products and services abroad," said Paulo Cabral.
The head of the Chile's exports promotion agency says the FTA with China has already helped this diversification begin.
Director-general of ProChile, Alejandro Buvinic, said, "On our exports today we are providing a lot a fruit, wine, olive oil, sea food, salmons. I don't want to sell a telephone because I know I am not competitive selling telephones to China -- they are more competitive -- but I can offer, for example, food."
This former Chilean ambassador to Beijing says his country can branch out even further.
Fernando Reyes Matta, Director of the Latin American Center for Chinese Studies at Andre Bello University, said, "We need to increase our capacity in scientific and technology research. We need to work more in the area of innovation because in the 21st century the real possibility to have another area of common interest, another joint venture with China, comes through the possibility to offer, from our side, innovation."
The Chilean government is also keen on attracting more Chinese investment to their country - as a next step in the two nations' evolving bilateral relationship.
