China, Brazil to further enhance practical cooperation: FMs

BEIJING - Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a phone conversation with his Brazilian counterpart Ernesto Araujo on Friday, agreeing that China and Brazil will further enhance their practical cooperation.

Wang said that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro successfully exchanged visits last year, and have held many phone conversations and sent letters to each other since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing out the direction for the development of bilateral relations.

In the next stage, the two sides should further implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries, adapt to a new situation for long-term prevention and control of the epidemic on a regular basis, focus on the "post-epidemic era," firmly grasp the main tone of friendly cooperation between China and Brazil, and steadily push forward bilateral relations, Wang said.

China and Brazil are both important emerging markets, and there is no fundamental conflict of interests between them, with cooperation far outweighing competition and consensus far outweighing differences, Wang said.

As major countries, China and Brazil both adhere to the path of independence and peaceful development, and respect each other's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, which lay the political basis for the relations between the two countries, he said.

China is willing to continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Brazil in international and regional affairs, safeguard the common interests of the two countries, safeguard the authority of international law, hold high the banner of multilateralism, promote the democratization of international relations, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction, he noted.

Despite the severe impact of the pandemic, Wang said, the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries is still growing, which has fully demonstrated that China-Brazil relations enjoy a profound foundation, strong resilience as well as mutual benefit, and that the two economies have distinct complementary advantages and huge potential for development.

China will continue to open its market for Brazil's high-quality agricultural products and welcome Brazil to participate in the third China International Import Expo, Wang said.

Noting China is willing to expand investment cooperation with Brazil in various fields including oil and gas, electricity, mining and infrastructure construction, Wang said the two sides will create a "new highland" of scientific and innovation cooperation and foster new cooperation platforms such as digital economy, clean energy, smart agriculture, telemedicine, smart cities, 5G communications and big data, so as to promote the two countries' industrial upgrading and digital transformation.

While doing a good job in pandemic prevention and control, China and Brazil should also establish "fast channels" for personnel exchanges and green channels for goods circulation, Wang said.

Araujo thanked China for providing anti-pandemic material assistance to Brazil, saying that his country is willing to further strengthen its cooperation with China in vaccine research, development and production.

As the two fastest growing emerging economies in the world, Araujo said, China and Brazil have established mature, mutually beneficial and stable bilateral relations.

Noting Brazil attaches great importance to its relations with China, Araujo said Brazil is ready to work with China to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, give full play to the existing cooperation mechanisms, deepen practical cooperation in such areas as agriculture, trade and investment, environmental protection, clean energy and digital economy, restart personnel exchanges in various fields as soon as possible and strengthen coordination in international and regional affairs, so as to push China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level.