Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva begins an official visit to China on Wednesday, which is expected to boost economic-commercial ties and will also have on the agenda the debate on global issues such as the conflict in Russia and Ukraine.
The tour will start in the municipality of Shanghai, where Lula will participate in the inauguration of Dilma Rousseff at the head of the New Development Bank, established by members of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to finance infrastructure projects.
The meeting with his host counterpart, Xi Jinping, will be on Friday 14th. Both will discuss bilateral issues and a proposal by Lula for the two countries to jointly mediate in the search for an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The dignitary is accompanied by a large delegation of businessmen, since the program contemplates the closing of twenty agreements in different sectors. Similarly, the Chinese press talks about the possible incorporation of Brazil into the Belt and Road initiative, which would make it the 22nd country in Latin America and the Caribbean to take that step.
Lula will be in China until Saturday. His visit was planned for March 26-31, but was postponed after he was diagnosed and hospitalized with bronchopneumonia.
When he assumed the presidency last January, Xi expressed his willingness to strengthen the bilateral alliance, noting that China and Brazil are large developing nations with broad global influence and important emerging markets.
The last visit to China by a Brazilian dignitary was in October 2019, carried out by former President Jair Bolsonaro with an agenda marked by economic issues and produced pacts on agriculture and infrastructure.
However, Beijing maintains that its Belt and Road project has the potential to further expand cooperation in these areas and others such as satellite construction, artificial intelligence, the deployment of the ultra-fast 5G network, tourism and sports, among others.
