QUITO: Ecuador and China signed three cooperation agreements on Tuesday worth US$442 million and obtained credit to buy four warplanes, officials here said.

The agreements were signed during the visit of Jia Qinglin, chair of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who met with President Rafael Correa as part of a tour of Latin America.

According to Correa's office, the economic and technical cooperation agreements include a US$1.4 million donation, as well as two lines of credit - one for US$2.9 million payable within ten years, and another for US$438 million to buy the four Chinese military planes, destined for Ecuador's Air Force.

Beijing's direct investment in Ecuador has reached US$2.2 billion, making it one of the top targets of Chinese investment in Latin America, Qinglin told reporters through an interpreter.

Trade between the two countries reached US$2.4 billion in 2008, a 50 per cent jump compared to the previous year, he said.

Meanwhile some 300 Chinese investors and business people are set to meet in Bogota on Wednesday and Thursday with their counterparts from eight Latin American countries in a bid to drum up business.

The event, the third of its kind, seeks to "promote Chinese investment in Latin America, identify Latin American products they may be interested in importing, and those that we want to buy," said Alejandro Ossa, a Colombian trade official.

Latin American exports to China reached US$68.6 billion in 2008, according to official figures, a 42 per cent increase over 2007.

China's main imports from the region include iron, soy beans, oil and other minerals.

- AFP/sc