China to boost investments in Brazil by $27B, Lula says
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that China will invest a further BRL 27 billion in Brazil. Their focus is on infrastructure and technology, but investments should also cover education, as extensive training will be necessary.
The president is on an official trip to Beijing, where he took part in the Brazil–China Business Forum with Chinese and Brazilian investors.
The trade flow between the two countries amounts to some $160 billion, as per data from the Brazilian trade agency ApexBrasil.
The new deals include a $1 billion investment in the production of renewable aviation fuel from sugar cane and the creation of a research and development center for renewable energy, the Planalto presidential palace reported.
Presidential speech
In the early hours of Monday morning (May 12), during his closing speech at the forum, President Lula stressed that the ties between Brazil and China do not form a “common relationship,” but a relationship between “two countries that are committed to solving the problem of impoverishment that has plagued both of their lives” for a long time.
“It’s remarkable that China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty in 40 years, just as it is remarkable that Brazil, in just 10 years, brought 54 million people out of hunger,” he remarked. In the Brazilian leader’s view, these achievements came following the incorporation of major portions of the population into the economies of these countries.
Brazil and China are “strategic partners and unavoidable players” amid the “resurgence of protectionist tendencies,” he said, referring to the recent trade policy adopted by the US.
Cooperation
The Brazilian president noted that, during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November last year, cooperative initiatives were launched for development projects in both nations.
As an example, the president cited the creation of the Virtual Center for Research and Development in Artificial Intelligence, the fruit of a partnership between Dataprev and Huawei, which, he pointed out, “will prove vital for the development of applications in agriculture, health, public security, and mobility”.
He also mentioned Telebras’ partnership with Spacesail, which will expand the supply of low-orbit satellites and bring internet connection to Brazilians living in remote areas.
Infrastructure
Regarding infrastructure, the president recalled that the East–West Rail Corridor will interconnect Brazil.
“It will be a fundamental undertaking for Brazilian logistics and one of the most transformative for guaranteeing food security in the world,” he said.
“Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via five integration routes will facilitate trade and bring more development to the interior of the South American continent. The bi-oceanic routes will shorten the distance between Brazil and China by approximately 10 thousand kilometers,” he added.
Commodity technology
Addressing those who complain that Brazil only exports commodities—such as agricultural products and iron ore—President Lula reiterated that such exports are positive for Brazil, but noted that this type of limitation stems from a lack of investment in education.
“Brazil should thank God it is exporting agribusiness, because we also need to know how much technology is in a soybean today. And how much genetic engineering is in a kilo of beef, chicken, or pork, or in a bag of corn,” he argued.
“We have to export agribusiness and use the money that comes in to invest in education, so that we can be competitive with China in the production of electric cars and batteries, in the construction of artificial intelligence. Nobody is going to give this to us Brazilians for free,” he concluded saying.
