President Calderon of Mexico is visiting China to try to boost economic cooperation between the two countries. Unlike most of Latin America, Mexico has not benefited from the boom in the Chinese economy in recent years. More details from our Latin America analyst, James Painter:

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President Calderon is hoping to change all this. He is keen for Chinese companies to come to Mexico as China's foreign investment last year was a meagre four million dollars. That compares unfavourably with the hundreds of millions of dollars Chinese companies have invested in Peru's mining industry and Venezuela's oil and gas sectors. Mexican law prevents foreign investment in the state-owned petrol company, but the president is still hoping for joint business ventures in the steel, car and computer industries.

A large trade delegation from Brazil is also in China this week. Businessmen from Latin America's two largest economies are clearly keen to get a share of the growing demand from China's burgeoning middle class.

James Painter, BBC

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boomed
grown rapidly

on the back of
as a result of something that happened recently

as more of a threat than an opportunity
more negative than positive

assembly industries
businesses where workers and machines in factories make products (e.g. cars, TVs, computers)

a large trade deficit with
owes a lot of money to

foreign investment
money from one country that is put into another in the hope of making profits in the future

a meagre four million dollars
the four million dollars was disappointingly small compared to what Mexico needed or expected

compares unfavourably
is different in a negative way

joint business ventures
businesses which are owned and operated by two companies (here, between companies from Mexico and China)

burgeoning middle class
the number of people who have professional jobs and who are richer than most factory workers or farmers is growing or expanding

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