Lula meets with business persons in Shanghai in search of partnerships and innovation

This Thursday (April 13th), the first day of his official visit to China, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took part in the inauguration ceremony of Dilma Rousseff as head of the New Development Bank of the BRICS bloc, and met with with Wang Chuanfu, CEO of BYD – which specializes in electric vehicles – and Wang Tongzhou, Chairman of the Board of the China Communication Construction Company, the largest of its kind in China.

As part of the business program for the Brazilian delegation’s trip to China, Lula visited the Huawei Research and Development Center in Shanghai. Accompanied by Liang Hua, company Chairman of the Board of Directors, the president crossed great halls decked with screens portraying some of Huawei’s most recent achievements in digital technology and innovation. The company has been operating in Brazil for 25 years. In the occasion, he tried out a virtual reality headset.

In a speech to the president, Huawei representatives stressed the company’s commitment to long-term efforts towards Brazil’s sustainable development, through partnerships focused on connectivity, digital inclusion, education, health and reindustrialization. Company achievements such as digital connectivity projects in remote areas of the Amazon and actions to interconnect public schools.

“The company made a presentation concerning 5G and solutions in telemedicine, education and connectivity – a very strong investment in research and innovation," said Lula on Twitter.

President Lula and his delegation will leave for Beijing later today. Tomorrow (April 14th), Lula’s agenda includes a meeting with National People’s Congress President Zhao Leji at the Great Palace of the People; a flower-laying ceremony at the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square; and meetings with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping.

The Brazilian delegation includes Brazilian state ministers; the First Lady, Janja Lula; the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco; congressmen; and state governors.

MAIN TRADE PARTNER – The Brazilian government’s main goal with this visit to China is to reestablish relations with the country that has been its main trade partner since 2009. In 2022, China imported over USD 89.7 billion in Brazilian products, especially soybeans and ores, and exported almost USD 60.7 billion to Brazil. Presently at USD 150.4 billion, trade between the two countries has increased 21 times since Lula's first visit to China in 2004.

At least 20 bilateral agreements are expected to be signed during the visit. One of them is for construction of CBERS-6, the 6th of a series of satellites built together by Brazil and China. This new model’s technology will allow Brazilian biomes such as the Amazon Rainforest to be monitored even on cloudy days.