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Chinese Vice President to attend Rousseff inauguration
December 30, 2014, 4:33 am

The Latin American economy is eyeing Chinese investment in oil and gas, new energy, satellite and information technology, Rousseff said last month [Xinhua]

The Latin American economy is eyeing Chinese investment in oil and gas, new energy, satellite and information technology, Rousseff said last month [Xinhua]

As Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special representative, Vice President Li Yuanchao will attend Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s second-term inauguration ceremony in Brazil from January 1 to 2. This marks a departure from China’s usual practice of sending high-level officials to swearing-in ceremonies of governments.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the announcement on Monday underlining the importance that Beijing has attached to ties with the Latin American country.

US Vice President Joe Biden will lead the United States delegation for the inauguration.

Brazilian and Chinese Presidents Dilma Rousseff and Xi Jinping exchanged congratulatory messages on the launch of the CBERS-4 satellite, jointly developed by China and Brazil, earlier this month.

The relationship between China and Brazil has “a promising future”, Xi told Rousseff on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Australia.

Earlier this year Xi and Rousseff signed 32 agreements in commerce, education, civil aviation and energy, including a deal that will see Brazilian company Embraer sell 60 E-190 jets to China.

China is Brazil’s biggest trade partner, with bilateral trade between the two reaching $83.3 billion, up 10 per cent in 2012, and expected to exceed $90 billion this year.

Amongst the deals inked this summer were some infrastructure investments by China, most significantly a railway spanning the continent from Brazil’s Atlantic coast to Peru’s pacific ports, which woud significantly reduce the costs and time required for Brazil to ship raw commodities to China.

Rousseff was re-elected in October for a second four-year term.

Brazil is struggling to revive growth. The Latin American economy is eyeing Chinese investment in oil and gas, new energy, satellite and information technology, Rousseff said last month.

Brazil had targeted a primary fiscal surplus for the year of 1.9 per cent of GDP or some 91.0 billion reais ($35 billion).

New Finance Minister Joaquim Levy, who takes charge in January, told the Brazilian daily Valor on Monday that the target had been lowered to “perhaps 10 billion reais ($3.8 billion) or 0.2 per cent of GDP.

 

TBP and Agencies