China.org.cn:

It has been 35 years since Brazil and China established diplomatic relations. What is your evaluation of sino-brazilian ties especially since 1993 when these two countries established a strategic partnership?

 

Hugueney:

Well, the relations between Brazil and China have experienced an extraordinary development in these 35 years. When we started relations trade was very small. Even the political ties were not very important. The high level dialogue was not regular between the two countries. Nowadays everything has changed.

Last year presidents Lula and Hu Jintao met three times. This year we already had two official visits from Chinese authorities to Brazil. First, the Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi; and then, the vice president Xi Jinping and this will be followed by the visit to China of our Foreign Minister, Celso Amorín, and President Lula, coming to China in the third week of May.

So, this shows that the relationship is flourishing and that we have a continued dialogue. Both presidents are going to meet during the G20 meeting in London.

On the other hand, on the economic front trade last year reached very high levels and grew very fast. Investment between our two countries is also starting to grow. So there are a lot of signs to know that this is now a relationship that is extremely important; and we want to see many results from the visit of President Lula. This way we will bring the relationship between our countries to a very high level.

 

China.org.cn:

Could you tell us a little bit more about the high level meetings?

 

Hugueney:

Yes, my pleasure. First, I think that Yang Jiechi’s visit to Brazil generated an excellent dialague between him and our Foreign Affairs Minister. They both agreed not only on bilateral issues but also on international issues. On the bilateral issue they both agreed to develop further the relation, President Lula has proposed to President Hu to raise the leven of the strategic partnership; and to work on a program to develop this relationship in the next five years. Minister Yang went to Brazil and delivered the reply from President Hu agreeing that we should further develop the relationship. Soon after, President Lula confirmed his next visit to China; Minister Amorín also confirmed his visit.

On the other hand, on international issues there was a total agreement on cooperation, on the road to the G20 summit. There has been cooperation between the teams that are preparing the position papers of both countries. Both countries agreed that we should try to conclude as soon as possible the Doha Round of Trade Negotiations and try to avoid protectionist measures that could only increase the danger of the current world situation. Also, both countries agreed that the main task for two big developing countries like Brazil and China is to maintain their rates of growth and that is their biggest contribution to try to improve the world economic situation.

On the occasion of the visit of vice president Xi, the meetings between Brazilian authorities and him were very important. On that occasion your vice president not only reaffirmed the importance that China attaches to Brazil and Latin America, but he also indicated that China wants to take concrete steps to improve this relationship. On that occasion important documents were signed between, for instance, China Development Bank and Petrobras, our state oil company, and Sinopec, including the financing of projects by Petrobras; and the export of oil from Brazil to China. Also, there were agreements signed between the Brazilian National Development Bank and China Development Bank, a very promising partnership because I think that both banks can play a major role in the contexts of the stimulus packages adopted in both countries. So we are counting on a close collaboration between the two banks to improve the economic situation in both countries and also to finance projects in infrastructure. So, as you can see the outcomes of the visit of Xi Jinping are very important; they created a good climate and also prepared the ground for the Brazilians visiting China this year in May.