The visit of the Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which is scheduled to begin on April 12, will have an ambitious agenda that includes the signing of many agreements and a large Brazilian delegation consisting of about 300 members.
In the meetings, the Brazilian President will deal with economic and diplomatic issues, setting out the South American country’s intention to resume a broader cooperation with developing countries and expand Brazil’s influence in the world, after the term of former president Jair Bolsonaro which was marked by great international isolation.
There is a projection by Brazilian diplomats that about 20 cooperation agreements will be signed between Brazil and China in different areas, with emphasis on science and technology, economy, foreign trade, culture, industry, defense and education.
According to statements by the Secretary for Asia and the Pacific of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Eduardo Paes Saboia, about ten days before Lula da Silva’s trip to China, many bilateral agreements are being negotiated, 20 have already been confirmed, “but this number may increase.”
One of the agreements in the economic area that generates expectation concerns the activation of a $20 billion (18.6 billion euros) Chinese financing fund for investments in projects in Brazil.
The South American country also hopes to sign a partnership to develop the sixth generation Sino-Brazilian satellite and, by initiative of the Lula da Silva Government, there is an indication that a joint declaration with China on climate and even the creation of a binational financing fund to fight climate change may happen.
It is expected that Brazil and China will also discuss global governance issues, matters of interest for the BRICS (a group composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), and the Brazilian proposal for the creation of a group of countries not involved in the war caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to negotiate peace in that region.
Xi Jinping has just returned from a state visit to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and presented the Chinese proposals for peace in Ukraine, which increases certainty that the war in Eastern Europe will be a sensitive and important topic in the Chinese leader’s meeting with the Brazilian leader.
During the visit, Lula da Silva is expected to participate in a large business event that will bring together at least 240 Brazilian businessmen, with a strong presence of people linked to agribusiness that will accompany the governmental entourage on the trip, in addition to businessmen and representatives of the Chinese government.
China is the main destination for Brazilian agribusiness exports and last year absorbed 31.9% of the sector’s sales abroad, according to data from the South American country’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Around 40 politicians, including Brazilian government ministers and invited parliamentarians are expected to participate in the agendas on Lula da Silva’s visit to the Asian country.
The official program announced by the Brazilian Government also foresees a visit to Shanghai, China’s economic capital, where former Vice President Dilma Rousseff, who governed Brazil from 2011 to 2016, will take over the management of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).
By the end of the trip, Lula da Silva will have, in just three months in office, had meetings with Brazil’s most important trading partners. In January he went to Argentina, in February he was in the United States, Brazil’s second largest trading partner after China, on a trip that also included a meeting with US President Joe Biden.
China is, since 2009, Brazil’s largest trading partner and one of the main sources of investments in Brazilian territory. In 2022, the trade flow between the two countries reached a record 150.5 billion dollars (139.4 billion euros).
Source: Observador