Brazil gives high priority to Hu’s visit: diplomat

Brazil attaches great importance to the upcoming visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao, a Brazilian diplomat said on Thursday.

China is a country “of great relevance in the international context,” with which “Brazil maintains broad and extensive relations and highly successful cooperation in various fields,” Roberto Jaguaribe, assistant secretary-general for political affairs of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, told a press conference.

President Hu will pay a state visit to Brazil and attend the second summit of the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – in Brasilia on April 14-17, before visiting Venezuela and Chile.

Jaguaribe, who is responsible for political coordination of the BRIC summit, noted that in recent years Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva paid two visits to China, and this will be the second of President Hu to Brazil.

He also said during Hu’s visit, the two presidents will unveil a joint action plan on cooperation in all fields ranging from trade, technology, education, advocacy and sports to political and strategic dialogue.

“We are thrilled with it, that is an important step, ensuring significant progress in several dimensions of the relationship, and we are very happy because that will complete a process of rapprochement that has been taking place for a long time but gained more momentum recently,” said the diplomat.