The meeting of the Sino-Brazilian High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Commission (COSBAN) held in Beijing June 5-6 accomplished just what that headline on the Brazilian Presidency’s report on the meeting said. Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin brought a delegation of six other cabinet ministers plus 200 Brazilian businessmen with him to Beijing, where they held numerous meetings with their Chinese counterparts. Officials of both nations emphasize that the strategic partnership that has developed between them over the 50 years of their relations is good for them, and also for the rest of the world.
“At a time of great international instability, with armed conflicts taking place in various regions of the planet, Brazil-China relations remain characterized by predictability and stability,” Alckmin said in opening the plenary session of the COSBAN. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who co-chairs the COSBAN, agreed that the turbulence in world relations makes “putting energy into bringing peace and development to the world” imperative. Greeting Alckmin before their June 7 meeting, President Xi Jinping pointed out that coordination between China and Brazil in the international arena had “effectively safeguarded the common interests of all developing countries.”
Deepening economic cooperation was the main subject of the various meetings held by Alckmin and the ministers of Planning, Agriculture, Social Development, Entrepreneurship and Agrarian Development and the Office of the Presidency who accompanied him to Beijing. Alckmin told President Xi Jinping that by lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, “China is an inspiration to us.” Brazil is particularly interested in Chinese investment in Brazil’s reindustrialization and infrastructure development programs.
