Lula will travel to China to meet with Xi Jinping at the end of March

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvawill meet in China later this month with his counterpart, Xi Jinpingto “mark the beginning of a new era” in relations between the two countries.

The official trip to Chinafirst commercial partner of Brazilis scheduled from March 26 to 31, and also occurs at a time of international tension due to the war in Ukraine.

Lula promotes a proposal for Brazil to participate in an eventual multinational dialogue process to end the conflict between Moscow and kyiv.

The Brazilian leader’s visit will take place a few days after Xi meets the Russian leader in Moscow. Vladimir Putinagainst whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant this Friday for the deportation of children in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia.

In a press conference after the official announcement of the state visit, Chinese diplomacy spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the meeting will “mark the beginning of a new era and a new future for relations between China and Brazil, level of heads of state.

The talks will “promote the China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level and there will be new contributions to promoting regional and global stability and prosperity,” the official added.

China is Brazil’s first trading partner, with more than 150,000 million dollars of bilateral trade last year, well ahead of the United States (88,800 million dollars).

It will be Lula’s first trip to China since he took up his third term in January.

Xi Jinping, who this week won a historic third five-year term as Chinese president, will receive his Brazilian counterpart on February 28, when Lula will also meet with Prime Minister Li Qiang and People’s Assembly Speaker Zhao Leji. .

“The relationship between the two countries is good, rich and dense,” the secretary for the Asia and Pacific region of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Eduardo Paes Saboia, told reporters in Brasilia.

It is also “a moment when Brazil and China speak to the world,” added Paes.

Entourage with 240 businessmen

The bilateral agenda covers issues such as ecological development, energy transition, education, agricultural products, and the signing of at least 20 agreements is expected.

The leftist president will travel accompanied by several of his ministers, some thirty parliamentarians and 240 businessmen, especially from the agribusiness sector.

Brazil is the main destination for Chinese investment in Latin Americaand at the same time it is the largest supplier of agricultural products to the Asian country.

Lula, who already led the largest economy in Latin America between 2003 and 2010, seeks to break the international isolation that marked the mandate of his predecessor, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

In his inauguration speech before Congress, he promised to resume “South American integration” and a “high and active” dialogue with the United States, Europe and China.

At the end of January, he received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and met US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington in February.

BRICS bank

China and Brazil are part of the BRICS group of emerging economies, to which they also belong Russia, India, and South Africa.

Lula will go to Shanghai on the 30th to visit the New Development Bank (NDB), founded by the BRICS in 2015.

The trip should serve to materialize the desire expressed by the Brazilian leader to resume cordial ties with China, in contrast to his predecessor.

China had announced an invitation to the Brazilian president in January, although without specifying the date of his visit.

“China attaches great importance to the global strategic partnership with Brazil,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said at the time.

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