Brazil Deputy FM kicks off China trip for BRIC summit

Brazilian Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota will kick off his first official trip to China today, making the last preparations for President Hu Jintao’s attendance to the upcoming BRIC summit in Brazil.

Patriota is scheduled to call on Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Minister of Commerce Chen Deming tomorrow to exchange views on bilateral and multilateral issues.

“As two large emerging economies, Brazil and China share common interests and face similar challenges in the international agenda,” said Patriota, adding the two nations have developed a high level of coordination and convergence at key international conferences.

“Our cooperation has reached the multilateral sphere and that is, in my opinion, one of the most important latest developments in the bilateral relationship,” he said in a written interview with China Daily. The deputy foreign ministr is very confident of China and Brazil’s role in addressing some of the world’s current challenges.

He said he is expecting President Hu to participate in the BRIC summit in April and pay an official visit to his country to further examine the perspectives of the Sino-Brazilian relationship.

“As Brazil and China are strategic partners, both sides agree that we should have a long-term view of our relationship. Therefore, we also plan to launch a Joint Plan of Action to establish the priorities of cooperation for the next five years,” he said.

The US investment bank Goldman Sachs came up with the BRIC concept in 2001, referring to Brazil, Russia, India and China, the four major emerging economies in the world. President Hu Jintao, and the three other leaders held their first formal meeting last year in the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

According to Patriota, one of the major themes of discussion of the upcoming summit will be how to deal with the world in a post-crisis environment and how the four countries could coordinate their efforts to better face the new challenges ahead.

The Brazilian senior diplomat used to be posted to the Brazilian Embassy in Beijing in the 1980s.