Brazil-China ties to have global influence
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The development of ties between the two emerging economic powers, Brazil and China, will have global influence as both sides have been contributing to enhancing the relationship in recent years.
Cooperation on bilateral and global issues has been growing rapidly despite the geographical distance between the two nations, according to diplomats from both countries.
Since Brazil and China agreed to establish a strategic cooperative partnership in 1993, high-level visits have been more frequent, reflecting strengthened political mutual trust.
During Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to China last year, the two sides reached broad consensus on a number of important issues, and raised their strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level.
The two governments have already achieved consensus on a plan of action to further cooperation in all areas, and maintain close coordination and cooperation on regional and international issues.
The two economies are complementary in many fields. China is a major producer with a large amount of foreign exchange reserve, while Brazil is a major exporter of resources and agricultural products.
According to Brazilian statistics, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Brazil has grown from 9.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2004, to 36 billion dollars in 2009, when China surpassed the United States to become the largest trading partner of the South American nation.
There have been rapid increases in economic cooperation projects and mutual investments.
Major Chinese companies such as Gree, Traxx, Huawei, ZTE and CITIC have established their branches in Brazil, while others including automaker Chery and oil producer CNOOC now have a bigger presence in the Brazilian market.
In March, under a joint project between Brazil's state-owned oil firm Petrobras and China's Sinopec, the construction of Brazil's longest natural gas pipeline was completed.
In addition, China Development Bank has provided a loan of 10 billion U.S. dollars for Brazil to exploit pre-salt oil.
Meanwhile, Brazil also saw bright prospects for investing in China with positive investment returns reported by Brazilian firms such as Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica (EMBRAER).
In the field of science and technology, the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) Program is proceeding very well and has been regarded as a model for the South-South cooperation between developing nations.
Under the program, three satellites have been launched, providing data in weather forecast, deforestation monitoring, detection of possible natural disasters among other areas for both nations. The fourth CBERS satellite will be launched in mid-2011.
Bilateral cultural exchanges have also been increased. This year, China's Confucius Institute has set up branches in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, and Brasilia, capital of the country. A Chinese cultural month event will be launched in Brazil in November.
Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis last year, China and Brazil, which often share the same or similar positions on many global issues, have cooperated even more closely on issues like global economy, international financial reform and climate change.
Both China and Brazil have been making efforts to amplify the voice of fellow developing nations and to exert their rights and benefits in global decision-making process. Both nations are also working together to promote a multi-polar world.
In an recent interview with Xinhua, Roberto Jaguaribe, an assistant secretary-general at Brazil's Foreign Ministry, said the relations between Brazil and China had exceeded the bilateral level, because "the two countries have been playing an increasingly important role on the international stage."
Jaguaribe said the two nations enjoyed many dialogue mechanisms to address issues of common interest and they also cooperated on many specific issues.
He mentioned that the two nations have conducted effective cooperation within the frameworks of BASICs (grouping Brazil, South Africa, India and China), BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China), the G20, the global climate change negotiations and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Qiu Xiaoqi, Chinese ambassador to Brazil, said he believed the prospect for the relationship between the two emerging nations would be very bright.
"With joint efforts from both sides, our cooperation in all fields will move up to a higher level. This partnership will certainly bring more benefits to both Chinese and Brazilian peoples," he told Xinhua.
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