Chinese workers at a subway terminus in Rio de Janeiro receive instructions on May 11. The Chinese-made subway trains were shipped to Brazil to be used during the 2016 Olympics.

As people in China develop a taste for fruit, wine and seafood from Latin America, officials in Beijing say more connectivity with the region is on the menu.

Diplomats and analysts both voiced optimism about greater collaboration in production capacity and trade after Premier Li Keqiang visited four nations on the continent in May.

China is already the second-largest trade partner to Latin America, as well as the largest for several countries in the region.

Alicia Barcena Ibarra, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, said Latin American countries are willing to work with China to expand production capacity, including in infrastructure and industry.

The aim is to diversify economic and export structures and achieve overall development and prosperity, she said.

Chen Duqing, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and former Chinese ambassador to Brazil, said China will exert "a huge influence … on connectivity within Latin America" if it succeeds in boosting logistics, power and information routes on the continent. The three sectors are "China's strengths and comparative advantages," he said.

On May 19, Premier Li joined Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at a ceremony for a power transmission project. The transmission line, from the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Dam, will cover more than 1,240 miles and run almost the entire length of Brazil. It will be the first ultra-high-voltage electricity transmission project built overseas by a Chinese company.

Speaking at the end of Li's visit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, "Transferring quality and environmentally friendly equipment and production capacity to Latin America not only addresses the economic downward pressure, but also helps the region advance its industrialization process." Beijing's offer to collaborate in production capacity was welcomed in each country the premier visited and has won appreciation across Latin America, he said.

Premier Li announced during the trip that China will set up a fund of $30 billion to boost this cooperation. The lack of funding has been a stumbling block for Latin American countries, Chen said, although he added that many Chinese financial institutions were rolling out business blueprints for the region.

Wu Baiyi, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Latin America Institute, said the ongoing bilateral cooperation "serves the demanding requirements on both sides for industrial restructuring and tweaking the paradigms for economic growth."

Common pursuits will prevail, he said, as both sides seek "a more-favorable status in restructuring global production chain, and bigger comparative advantages, and (both) want to better tap their growth potential."

A railway project proposed last year by China, Brazil and Peru to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans is a sign of the progress being made. The trio has agreed to carry out a feasibility study and accelerate a working group for the project, Premier Li and Peruvian President Ollanta Humala told the media after holding talks on May 22.

The three countries will strive for early and substantial progress on the project, drive economic development along the proposed route line, and speed up industrialization and urbanization in Latin America while protecting the environment and biodiversity, Premier Li said. He said China had a rich experience in railway construction, and that its secure, cost-effective equipment had stood up to competition in the international market.

Tang Jun, from Zhejiang International Studies University's Institute of Latin American Studies, said a spectrum of agreements had been signed to inject new dynamism into the economic growth of the Latin American economies.

Trade between China and Latin American had been growing at less than 1 percent a year since 2012. Beijing aims to increase bilateral trade with Latin America to $500 billion a year by 2020.