China offers opportunity for Ecuador: minister

China's strength and vigor have contributed to offering opportunities for the development of Ecuador and other Latin American countries, Ecuador's Minister of Security Homero Arellano said Saturday.

"The rise of China gives my country and the region a new opportunity of mutual benefit," Arellano told Xinhua in an exclusive interview, adding that the region should seize the momentum.

"Our bilateral relations are close and profound in various fields, and I think it is clearly a historic moment for our two countries. There has not been a better time than this throughout the history of Ecuador," said the minister.

In recent years, China has become a strategic partner of Ecuador, a country in which over 70 Chinese companies have business.

Hydroelectricity and security projects have highlighted the participation of these Chinese companies in helping develop the key sectors in the South American country.

On security, Arellano spoke highly of the role of Chinese state-owned enterprises, especially the China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC), which is building the integrated security service system "ECU-911" in Ecuador.

The ECU-911 system, a flagship project of the Ecuadorian government in which a technology platform brings together all security agencies to respond to emergencies with a single telephone number, is expected to be finished in 2014.

It includes two national command and control centers, five regional centers and eight provincial centers, and is likely to be extended to other Latin American countries.

"The Chinese companies have been successful in Ecuador. They have shown great professional capabilities," said the minister.

Arellano said that the National Plan for Good Living implemented by the Ecuadorian government is to lay down a solid foundation for a new Ecuadorian society, which is more equitable and more caring, and where violence is eradicated and family values are treasured.

In this regard, the minister said: "I find great similarities between the pursuits of our two countries."