Brazil is set to speed up its infrastructure development after yesterday signing deals with China worth $27bn during a visit by premier Li Keqiang.
Li said China and Brazil agreed to increase co-operation in industrial capacity, which would help Brazil speed up its infrastructure construction, reduce cost, create jobs and "achieve mutual benefit and win-win results", Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
China is willing to set up a joint fund for industrial capacity co-operation to finance bilateral projects in the field, Li said.
Following talks with President Dilma Rousseff, he said the two sides also agreed to expand bilateral trade, strengthen financial co-operation and push forward the settlement of cross-border trade with local currency.
Li said China supported a bigger role for Brazil in international affairs.
At a press conference, Rousseff said Brazil was willing to co-operate with China in the fields of energy, resources, metallurgy, aviation and aerospace, and agriculture, with an emphasis on infrastructure and industrial capacity.
The two countries will play bigger roles in international and regional affairs, she added.
Brazil is the first stop in Li’s four-nation Latin America tour, his first to the region since he assumed the premiership in 2013.Â
He will also visit Colombia, Peru and Chile between now and 26 May.
Earlier in his visit to Brazil, Li initiated a feasibility study into a trans-oceanic rail link across South America between Brazil’s Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast of Peru.
Photograph: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff during a signing ceremony in Brazil, 19 May (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
