The President of China, Xi Jinping, is meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at Palácio da Alvorada, where he is paying an official visit this Wednesday (20). The agenda in Brasília follows the participation of the Chinese leader at the G20 Summitheld in Rio de Janeiro, and which ended last Tuesday (19).
Xi Jinping arrived at Palácio da Alvorada around 10am this Wednesday. The hotel where you are staying is just a few meters from the official residence of the Presidency of the Republic. In an official armored car, the Asian leader accessed the main entrance to the building’s entrance, got out of the vehicle and walked approximately 100 meters until he was received by President Lula and the First Lady, Janja da Silva, on a red carpet laid out especially for the visit.
Received with military honors, Xi Jinping reviewed the troops and accompanied, alongside President Lula, a graduation (troop parade) of the 1st Guards Cavalry Regiment, of the Brazilian Army, known as the Independence Dragoons.
Then, they entered Alvorada surrounded by Brazilian and Chinese children who live in Brazil, who waved flags from both countries. At this moment, a Chinese folk song was performed by a singer.
The expanded meeting between the two delegations, made up of ministers of state from each party, should last until around 12pm, when another ceremony will mark the signing of several acts between the governments. Afterwards, a statement from the presidents to the press is planned. The Chinese president and his delegation have lunch with Lula at Palácio da Alvorada. In the late afternoon, dinner will be served to the Chinese at the Itamaraty Palace, headquarters of Brazilian diplomacy. Xi Jinping is expected to leave Brazil on Thursday morning (21).
THE Xi Jinping’s visitaccording to Itamaraty, is a sequence of the visit that Lula made to China in April 2023 and also takes place in celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The trade flow reached a record of more than US$157 billion, with exports of US$104 billion and imports of US$53 billion. The Brazilian surplus of US$51 billion is equivalent to around 52% of the country’s total trade balance. Brazilian exports to the Asian giant surpassed, in the same year, the combined sales to the United States and the European Union.
The expectation of the bilateral meeting between Brazil and China is the expansion of the strategic partnership and new trade agreements. One of them was announced yesterday by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), in partnership with the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC), which articulated a new agreement with the Chinese coffee shop chain Luckin Coffee for the purchase of 240 thousand tons of grain from Brazil between 2025 and 2029. The value of the deal is estimated at US$2.5 billion. The previous commitment, of US$500 million for the purchase of 120 thousand tons by the end of this year, was signed in June during a Brazilian mission to the country, the federal government reported.
