PUNTA DEL ESTE, Uruguay - Chinese automaker Lifan has expressed its interest in establishing a plant in Uruguay to produce electric vehicles, Energy and Mining Minister Carolina Cosse said on Friday.

Company executives proposed the idea at a meeting with President Tabare Vazquez on the sidelines of the 11th China-Latin America and the Caribbean (China-LAC) Business Summit in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Cosse said.

"It's great news that would mean more jobs," Cosse told reporters covering the summit.

The next step is to create a presidential work team to study the proposal, she said.

"We are taking each sector of activity and, based on agreements signed with China, expanding them to achieve better conditions for Uruguay," said Cosse, adding there was "excellent synchronicity" between the two governments.

Lifan's first plant in Uruguay opened in 2012 in the southern department of San Jose.