On the Brazilian side, investments will involve PAC and Nova Indústria Brasil; on the Chinese side, the Belt and Road initiative, which the Lula administration avoided formally adhering to for geopolitical reasons
The presidents of Brazil, (PT), and China, Xi Jinping, signed this Wednesday (20.Nov.2024) an agreement that established a cooperation plan between the 2 countries for joint investments in priority projects. Two task forces will be created in the areas of financial cooperation and productive and sustainable development. The groups will have 2 months to submit proposals.
In Brazil, investments can be made in projects under the New PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), the Nova Indústria Brasil Plan, the Ecological Transformation Plan and the South American Integration Routes Program. On the Chinese side, projects will be selected within the scope of the Belt and Road Initiative (Belt and Road Initiativein English), the largest Chinese infrastructure program abroad.
“We are determined to build on our cooperation for the next 50 years in areas such as sustainable infrastructure, energy transition, artificial intelligence, digital economy, healthcare and aerospace. For this reason, we will establish synergies between Brazilian development strategies, such as the New Industry Brazil (NIB), the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), the South American Integration Routes Program, and the Ecological Transformation Plan, and the Belt and Road Initiative”said Lula in a statement to journalists after receiving Xi Jinping at the Palácio da Alvorada.
The Chinese supported Brazil’s adherence to the initiative, but the Brazilian government preferred not to sign the agreement in its entirety. Planalto considers that there are already initiatives underway and that it can continue seeking Chinese investments without directly aligning itself with Xi Jinping’s geopolitical strategy.
Lula adopted the term “synergy” to align interests between the 2 countries and have an alternative to full membership. One of the Brazilian government’s concerns was not to automatically align itself with China at a time when tensions between the Asian country and the United States increased.
The Brazilian Executive focuses on Chinese participation in 4 major axes: investments in works under the New PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), construction and reform of regional integration routes in South America, contributions to energy transition projects and modernization of the industrial park .
China and Brazil are already joint members of Brics (a bloc originally composed of the 2 countries with India, Russia and South Africa) and have become even closer recently by jointly presenting a proposal for a political resolution to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
