Daily Times

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday began a China tour aimed at deepening ties with the world’s second-largest economy by attending the swearing-in of a political ally as head of a major multilateral development bank.

Dilma Rousseff, a former leader of Brazil, was inaugurated as the president of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai on Thursday morning.

The bank was jointly set up by Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa to serve emerging economies, and Rousseff will complete her country’s term in its rotating presidency until 2025.

Lula is set to meet the head of China’s biggest electronic carmaker BYD as well as visit a research centre run by telecom giant Huawei later in Shanghai, before meeting his counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday.

“We’re going to consolidate our relationship with China. I’m going to invite Xi Jinping to come to Brazil for a bilateral meeting, to get to know the country and to show him projects that will be of interest for Chinese investment,” Lula said on Monday evening before his departure. In October, BYD said it was planning to set up a vehicle manufacturing plant in northern Brazil’s Bahia after Ford Motors closed its factory in the industrial area. The company is already making electric buses and cars for the Latin American market in Brazil. Brazil is a huge market for technology giant Huawei — in contrast with the United States, where companies are effectively barred from doing business with the firm. China is Brazil’s biggest export market, buying tens of billions of dollars worth of soybeans, beef and iron ore.