PORT OF SPAIN - China will provide $1 billion of preferential loans to support the local economic development of Caribbean countries, Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan said here Monday.

Wang made the offer at the Third China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum in Port of Spain, capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

During the opening ceremony, Wang said the Chinese government will further deepen China-Caribbean cooperation in such areas as finance and investment, capacity building, environmental protection, new energy, culture, education, health, trade, tourism as well as agriculture and fishery.

In finance and investment, the China Development Bank will set up one billion dollars in special business loans to finance infrastructure. China will also donate one million dollars to the Caribbean Development Fund.

In capacity building, the Chinese side will offer training courses for no less than 2,500 Caribbean trainees and 30 postgraduates to study in China. China will also help build an early warning monitoring network for earthquakes and tsunamis and provide training for disaster reduction and prevention.

"China will continue to support the Caribbean countries' efforts in developing their economies, improving people's livelihood, promoting the Caribbean regional integration process and playing an active role in international affairs," Wang said.

In recent years, China-Caribbean relations have maintained good momentum with frequent high-level exchanges, deepened mutual political trust, and fruitful cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, agriculture, science and technology, and infrastructure, he said.

Over the last six years, China-Caribbean cooperation has moved on the fast track, the Chinese vice premier said, adding that bilateral trade, increasing by an annual average of 24 percent, reached 7.2 billion dollars in 2010.

Wang arrived here Sunday following a stopover in the Caribbean island nation of Bahamas.

The China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum is the highest level of economic and trade dialogue mechanism between the two sides, whose mission is to facilitate economic and trade cooperation for common development.

The first two forums were held in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, in February 2005 and in Xiamen, China, in September 2007.