China, Brazil to turn cooperation potential into bonuses

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's upcoming visit to Brazil is widely believed to help turn the potential of bilateral cooperation into practical dividends amid efforts to shape a "community of common destiny."

At the invitation of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Li is expected to begin his visit to Brazil on Monday, the first stop of his first Latin America trip since taking office.

As Brazil's largest trade partner, China invested 18.94 billion U.S. dollars in the Latin American country in 2014, while Brazil, China's largest trading partner in Latin America, trying to get a bigger share of China's dynamic emerging market.

Due to a slowed growth rate and the restructuring of China's economy, Brazil's export of natural resources, particularly minerals, has reduced. However, the two countries are making concerted efforts to expand cooperation in other fields such as the energy industry, equipment manufacturing, infrastructure, finance and the service sector.

"It is not just about resources. China's trade with and investments in Brazil are showing a tendency of diversification in areas of manufacturing and aviation," Chinese Assistant Minister of Commerce Tong Daochi told Xinhua ahead of Li's visit.

A relatively lower growth rate and higher-quality development in China will bring more opportunities to bilateral economic partnership and spur a more sustainable development of their economies.

About 200 Chinese entrepreneurs will attend a summit with their Brazilian colleagues during the visit. Leading Chinese bankers, in particular, will work with Brazilian partners to expand bilateral financial cooperation, which has offered strong support for the trade of goods and services between the two countries, Tong said.

China offers more opportunities for Brazilian financial institutions doing businesses in China, firstly in experimental free trade zones, hoping that its currency, the RMB, will have a stronger presence in bilateral trade and monetary transactions, with an eye to liberalize the Chinese currency, he said.

Space technology is another area both China and Brazil are interested in and focusing on. A satellite was successfully launched from China's Taiyuan space base into orbit in December 2014 under the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite Program.

Li's Latin America tour coincides with China's active efforts to promote its Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to promote infrastructure construction cooperation with Asian, European and Pacific countries.

During Li's visit, the two sides will sign a series of cooperation documents, such as that on a joint study of the feasibility of building a railway connecting the Brazilian Atlantic coast with the Peruvian Pacific coast.

The railway is expected to not only help South America improve its transportation system and regional trade, but also boost the trade and economic cooperation between China and Latin American countries.

A development bank and a foreign exchange reserve arrangement among BRICS, which groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will also help finance large infrastructure projects like a transcontinental railway.

Meanwhile, Brazil is enthusiastic about investing in Asian infrastructure construction, having applied for a founding membership of the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

As China is comprehensively deepening its reforms, Brazil and other major trade partners of the world's second-largest economy will get more investment and job opportunities as well as easier access to the Chinese market thanks to increased trade, tourism and cultural exchanges, analysts say.

Source: Xinhua