(Yicai) July 9 -- Foreign delegates touring factories, ports, museums, and other sites in Shanghai ahead of the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Civilizations Dialogue in Beijing have expressed amazement at China's technological sophistication and voiced strong interest in expanding cooperation in various areas.

During visits to Tesla’s Gigafactory and Yangshan container port, delegates from Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Grenada, Peru, Vietnam, and other countries marveled at China's manufacturing prowess and infrastructure capabilities.

The Gigafactory, which was built and opened in 2019, accounts for over half of Tesla's global output and has produced more than 3 million cars in less than five years. Yangshan Port is the world's largest automated shipping container facility.

“The level of technology is amazing,” Gregory Riviere, international secretary of Dominica’s ruling Labour Party, said after visiting the Tesla plant. “There is a lot that we can learn from this whole venture.” The factory has 500 robots but only 200 human staff, which speaks of efficiency and quality, he noted.

Gloria Thomas, Grenada’s minister for social and community development, pointed out that automation brings safety benefits. "You are only seeing machines working,” she said. “You are not seeing humans. So that reduces the risk of accidents.”

The international delegates to the Ministerial Meeting of the Global Civilizations Dialogue have been arriving in Shanghai since July 7. They will head from there to Beijing for the two-day meeting, which will kick off tomorrow. The event has attracted more than 600 participants from about 140 countries.

'Magical' Engineering

The delegates were equally impressed by the 32.5-kilometer-long Donghai Bridge leading to Yangshan Port. Riviere noted that "the bridge is almost as long as my country" and that the entire port is “nothing less than magical.”

The Phase IV automated terminal at Yangshan Port handles 6.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units a year and has 125 autonomous vehicles. Shanghai's port container throughput exceeded 50 million TEUs last year, maintaining the city's spot as the world's largest seaport by container throughput for the 15th straight year.

Yangshan Port's automation sparked interest in potential cooperation among the delegates. "We are in the process of developing our own container port back home," Riviere pointed out. “We are hoping that maybe we can get some cooperation, as it relates to getting some of our young people trained in the technology.”

The technology could benefit small island nations, Thomas noted. "If only my country had resources, we would have been able to link the main island to the smaller islands and develop that island,” she said.

“One of the impediments to electric vehicles is the question of supercharging ports," Riviere pointed out. “If we were able to get assistance with charging ports, and governments provide incentives, more people will get into EVs.”

In addition, China has ongoing infrastructure investments in Dominica, including rebuilding six major schools destroyed by Hurricane Maria and a new international port, Riviere said.

China's foreign trade with 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries that have signed up to its Belt and Road Initiative -- a massive infrastructure development and investment project also known as the “New Silk Road” -- reached USD500 billion last year.

Beyond Commodity Trading

The visits highlight China's efforts to diversify its ties with the Latin American and Caribbean nations beyond commodity trading, with officials voicing their desire for alliances spanning education, healthcare, technology transfers, and infrastructure development.

"We have students that come to China to study and they have to learn the language," said Grenada's delegate Osbert Charles. “We have a Confucius Institute, which was refurbished by China, where they established this room to teach the Chinese language.”

"If we train, we get this technical support from China and train women in non-traditional areas, so they will be able to earn more," Thomas noted. “With China part of our collaboration, we can assist in having a lot of women training in non-traditional areas.”

For Peru's delegation, led by National Youth Secretary Luz Cauna, the visit represented an opportunity to share experiences. "As a political party, we will share this wonderful experience with our young militants about this majestic infrastructure," Cauna said.

The tours of Shanghai have succeeded in demonstrating China's technological leadership to key stakeholders from regions where geopolitical competition is intensifying.

"Small island developing states can probably take a page from China's book in terms of development and the path to successful economic growth," Charles said.

Editor: Martin Kadiev