President will visit the Asian country between March 26th and 31st; secretary says 20 agreements between nations are ready to be signed
O Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the President Lula (PT) should take 240 businessmen to the entourage for the official trip to China At the end of the month. According to Itamaraty, the executives’ trip is not funded by the Brazilian government. The delegation will also include parliamentarians and ministers. Itamaraty has not yet released the list of participants. China is the main trading partner of the Brazil since 2009. On the trip, Lula’s first to the eastern hemisphere, the government will seek to strengthen ties with Beijing, diversifying the products it exports to the country. Brazil wants to sell more industrialized items and not just focus on commodities like soybeans and iron ore.
According to ambassador Eduardo Saboia, secretary for Asia and the Pacific, collaboration in technology and the fight against hunger are also on the agenda. “One of the themes of this visit is the issue of development, which also involves technological development, climate change. These ideas will be present in the conversations and agreements that are being negotiated”, said the secretary. The trip takes place between the 26th and 31st of March. According to the agenda, on the 28th, Lula will have a meeting with Chinese authorities and President Xi Jinping. The next day, the entourage participates in a business seminar. Saboia also said that there are 20 agreements ready to be signed between Brazil and China covering areas such as agriculture, science and technology. One of them refers to the first Sino-Brazilian satellite for monitoring the Earth’s surface, with a focus on forests.
*With information from the reporter Paula Lobão
