Official visit: Xi Jinping receives Lula with top honors and says China “will open up new opportunities for Brazil”

the Chinese president, Xi Jinpingreceived its Brazilian counterpart this Friday Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvaon an official visit to Beijing, to which he assured that China’s development “will open up new opportunities” for Brazil and for the world.

“China will try high quality development, will accelerate the creation of a new development paradigm and promote high-level openness. This will open up new opportunities for Brazil and for countries around the world,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Chinese endorsement of Lula follows the Brazilian’s statements the day before, when he lashed out against the dollar, as a global currency, and against the IMF, in particular for its mistreatment of Argentina.

This Friday, Lula continued on the same anti-American path, indicating that “no one will ban” the deepening of relations between China and Brazil.

Xi received Lula in the largest official state ceremony since before the pandemic.

Chinese investments of 50 billion dollars

“No one will forbid Brazil from perfecting its relations with China,” Lula said as he arrived at the People’s Palace, where they held a bilateral meeting with Xi in which they signed 15 chords.

According to the Brazilian team, in the long run Chinese investments in Brazil for about 50 billion dollars.

“China is putting relations with Brazil at stake a priority seat in our foreign relations. You are our old friend and a good friend. It was with your attention and support that China-Brazil relations took a big leap,” Xi praised, approaching the largest economy in Latin America.

Earlier, in the meeting with the leader of the People’s Assembly (parliament), Zhao Leji, Lula had assured that world geopolitics must change with the support of both China and Brazil, in the framework of his speech for the reform of international institutions and the need to trade in local currencies leaving aside the dollar.

“It is together with China that we have tried to balance world geopolitics by discussing the most important issues,” Lula said. And she continued: “We want to raise the level of strategic association between our countries, expand trade flows and, together with China, balance global geopolitics”.

Lula was received with military honors and by a group of children waving Brazilian flags to the rhythm of the song “Nuevo Tiempo”, by the Brazilian musician Ivan Lins.

Main partner of Brazil

In 2009, during Lula’s second consecutive term, China replaced the United States main trading partner of Brazil, and since then the relationship with the commodity exporter profilewhich is why Lula said he is looking for investments to create value-added innovations on Brazilian soil.

In his open speech to the press, which preceded the private meeting, Lula spoke of intensifying Brazil-China relations in areas such as Science and technologyexchange of university students, cultural relations, strategies to combat climate change, clean energy, production of electric cars and buses.

“I think my government’s understanding on China is that we have to work hard to create a Brazil-China relationship that is not just a purely commercial interest relationship. Although commercial interest is very important,” Lula said.

The president even called for China’s commitment to the energy transition and reduction of polluting emissions.

“We are counting on China in our fight to preserve planet Earth by advocating for a healthier climate policy where people can breathe cleaner air and drink cleaner water. To that end, an energy transition is of paramount importance so we can produce cleaner energy, especially wind, solar, biomass,” Lula said.

“Brazil has 80% of its energy totally clean and is committed right now, in my government, to reach by 2030 the zero deforestation in the Amazon to make our contribution to safeguarding the planet”, he continued.

Lula also took advantage of the speech to thank China’s support for the election of former president Dilma Rousseff at the head of the New Development Bank (NBD), the bank of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), an instrument of the multinationals of the southern hemisphere that seek to be an alternative to the World Bank to finance development actions.

This is the third official visit from Lula to China.

According to the Chinese press, the welcome given to Lula is the most important in the People’s Palace, seat of the Chinese government, since the restriction measures were taken to counter the coronavirus pandemic.

Agencies

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