Chinese FM to visit growing trade partner Brazil

BRASILIA: China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, is to visit Brazil next week, officials here said Friday, to reinforce bilateral trade ties that have grown markedly in recent years.

“Advances in the bilateral relationship and actions to expand cooperation in strategic areas such as high technology, energy, agriculture and space will be analyzed,” the Brazilian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Yang is to be greeted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Foreign Minister Celos Amorim on Monday.

Discussions will include ways to strengthen common positions, especially on giving emerging powers such as Brazil, China and India a greater say in global political and financial decisions, officials said.

China-Brazil trade soared in 2008 to total 36.4 billion dollars — a more than 50-percent increase over the previous year that resulted in China becoming the second-biggest trade partner to Brazil after the United States. Most of Brazil’s 20 billion dollars’ worth of sales to China were of resources such as iron ore and soyabeans.

China, in return, sold 16.4 billions dollars’ worth of goods to Brazil — including items such as cheap textiles and shoes, squeezing many Brazilian footwear- and apparel-makers out of their own market.

Wednesday, AFP