By Li Hongmei

Chinese President Xi Jinping met leaders of eight Caribbean countries in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, as part of China's endeavors to build rapport with emerging economies.

President Xi discussed energy and trade issues with the Caribbean leaders, most of whom came away impressed with the encounter.

Xi's visit "gives us the sense of the balance that we must recognize that exists on a global basis," said Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie.

"What I found so impressive in the president of China is that he treated the leaders of small Caribbean nations no differently to how he would treat the president of United States" or the British prime minister, Christie said.

Jamaican Prime Minster Portia Simpson said that Xi's visit was "interesting and good," and told reporters that she hopes that "something happens, something positive, for our region."

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit sees China's interest in the region as "very constructive."

"It's a signal to us in the Caribbean that China has been taking us seriously, they have responded to the solidarity we have express them, particularly in the one China policy."

Christie also made a pitch for increasing tourism from China, and spoke to Xi about the need for direct flights to the Bahamas and relaxing visa requirements for tourists.

"China is an excellent place to look for tourists," said Christie, who said tourism was "the most effective and quickest way to generate economic activity."

Xi also met with the presidents of Surinam and Guyana, Desi Bouterse and Donald Ramotar; and the prime ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and Barbados - Baldwin Spencer, Keith Mitchell and Freumdel Stuart.

Separately, Guo Jinlong, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Secretary of the CPC in Beijing, was on an official visit to nearby Cuba, and island that Xi was not scheduled to visit.

China signed seven agreements Sunday with Cuba to increase bilateral cooperation on trade, transportation, tourism and biotechnology, state media reported.

China is Cuba's second most important trade partner after Venezuela, and one of its main sources of credit.

As is scheduled, Xi wraps up his Caribbean visit late Sunday and is set to travel to Costa Rica, and later Mexico and the United States.