October 28, 2019-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and China’s President Xi Jinping met in Beijing last Friday to bolster bilateral trade and investment between their two countries ahead of the APEC and BRICs summits next month.
Bolsonaro, Brazil’s new far-right leader, said the two leaders are meant to “were born to walk together” and that the two economies — the second and ninth largest in the world — are “completely aligned, in a way that reaches beyond our commercial and business relationship.”
The leaders established some common ground in trade and investment ahead the APEC Summit in Chile Nov. 11-17 and the BRICs Summit in Brazil Nov. 13-14.
Strengthening Economic Ties
Xi held a welcome ceremony for Bolsonaro and said he hoped to develop “strategic and long-term” relations with Brazil.
It appears that neither country announced major economic deals, but some trade and investment developments took place.
According to the Taipei Times reporting, Hu Chunhua, China’s vice premier, said China is willing to increase imports of agricultural and industrial goods from Brazil and the two countries may cooperate on infrastructure.
Furthermore, Reuters reported that Bolsonaro invited China’s state-owned oil companies to bid on a massive oil and gas auction, which could be worth more than $25 billion. Last year, trade between the two countries reached $24.8 billion. About 18 percent of Brazil’s imports come from China while China accounts for about 22 percent of Brazil’s exports, according to the World Trade Organization.
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