Beijing (agencies)
China and Brazil agreed in a joint statement yesterday to deepen cooperation in various fields within the framework of the “BRICS” group, which also includes Russia, India and South Africa, and announced their support for “active discussions among member states on expanding the group.”
Xi received the leftist Brazilian president in Beijing yesterday afternoon, and assured him that the relationship between the two countries occupies a high diplomatic priority, according to an official statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
“China and Brazil share extensive common interests,” the statement quoted Xi as saying.
The Chinese president also assured his Brazilian counterpart that China’s development creates “new opportunities” for Brazil and other countries.
“China will pursue high-quality development, accelerate the establishment of a new development model and promote high-level opening-up, which will provide new opportunities for Brazil and the countries of the world,” he added.
For his part, the Brazilian president said, “We have an exceptional relationship with China, a relationship that is getting stronger and stronger every day.”
He added that Brazil and China need to work together so that the relationship is not limited to economic interests only.
The BRICS countries are a group of emerging countries that includes Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa. It was established in 2006 during Lula’s first presidential term (2003-2010).
Lula said, yesterday, during a meeting with Zhao Lijie, Chairman of the National People’s Congress, in Beijing, that “our interests with China are not only commercial, we have political interests and concerns to build a new geopolitical system, for greater representation in the United Nations.”
Leftist President Lula, 77, said in Shanghai the day before yesterday that Brazil had “returned to the international arena,” saying that “the time of Brazil’s absence from major global decisions is over. We have returned to the international arena after an inexplicable absence.”
This is the fourth official visit to China by Lula, who said, last Monday, before leaving Brazil that he wanted to “strengthen” relations between his country and the giant Asian country. The value of exchanges between Brazil and China reached $150 billion in 2022, including goods worth $89.7 billion that Brazilians exported to China.
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