Brazil and China are keen to ‘fully explore the synergies’ between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Brazil’s Investment Partnerships Program, according to Paulo Estivallet de Mesquita, Brazil’s Ambassador to China.
In an article published on the Chinese press, the Brazilian ambassador said diplomats from both countries “have received clear instructions from our leaders to continue along this path”, after President Xi Jinping and President Jair Bolsonaro met twice in 2019, and since the beginning of 2020 have held virtual meetings and reached many agreements.
“We also have the institutional mechanisms to promote bilateral dialogue and to jointly develop, implement and follow-up joint cooperation plans. We will use them to deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established in 2012”, Mesquita (pictured above, left) adds.
At the top of the bilateral institutional arrangements lies the Sino-Brazilian High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee (COSBAN), which is jointly chaired by Vice-President Hamilton Mourão and Vice-President Wang Qishan.
COSBAN presides over an array of thematic subcommissions and working groups tasked with bringing together government agencies, institutions and experts in areas such as infrastructure, energy, financial cooperation, science and technology, tourism and education. The next meeting of COSBAN, in the coming months, will make a decision on updating the medium and long-term strategy documents that guide bilateral cooperation.
According to Mesquita, “Brazil and China took on the challenges presented by the appalling (covid-19) crisis to enhance and deepen the bilateral cooperation, which is now stronger and more diversified than ever before”.
Brazil Able to ‘Expand and Diversify’ Offer of Products to China
Bilateral trade continued to grow, a new record in two-way trade was reached, topping USD 102 billion in 2020, and preliminary data for the first quarter of 2021 indicate that the positive trend continues.
“Most of the agricultural products China now imports (such as soybeans, meat and sugar) come from Brazil’s world-renowned agribusiness sector. Brazil has proven time and again that it is capable of supplying high-quality food at competitive prices, in the large quantities required by the Chinese market, thus helping China to achieve its food security goals”, the diplomat says.
Brazil is also present in other sectors, as a major source of China’s iron ore, oil, cotton and pulp imports. Brazil continues to be China’s third most important trading partner in the Western world, after the U.S. and Germany. China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner since 2009. It has been a steady supplier of a large range of products to Brazil.
“Chinese vaccines, as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) produced in China, account for the bulk of Brazil’s immunization program against COVID-19 until now”, Mesquita writes. There are ongoing cooperation initiatives aimed at developing more vaccines, and Brazil trusts “that the experience acquired in the fight against this pandemic will lead to long-term cooperation on health issues”.
Mesquita pledges to continue to “make full use of other bilateral and multilateral arrangements” , such as the BRICS, that has allowed Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa to engage more directly, without intermediaries, outside frameworks that reflect different historical circumstances, and has established some innovative tools, such as the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, which are relevant alternatives to traditional international financial institutions.
BASIC, an environment-dedicated mechanism composed of Brazil, China, India and South Africa that held its most recent meeting in April, “will continue to play a key role in international discussions on climate issues in the coming years, not least about climate finance”, Mesquita adds.
“Brazil and China have established one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world. Our partnership will continue to flourish because it provides a valuable contribution to both countries’ development. We will continue to develop our solid economic ties; It’s also believed that the time has come to place more emphasis on people-to-people contacts for the mutual benefit, prosperity and well-being of our peoples”, the diplomat writes.
