State visit to boost countries' friendship

President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit to Brazil will further draw together the two countries and peoples, expand mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation between the two countries and lay a solid foundation for the development of bilateral ties in the next 40 years and beyond.

Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre once described Brazil as "tropical China". He said that despite their geographical distance, China and Brazil have a long history of friendly exchanges, the two peoples' feelings are naturally close, and Chinese culture and Eastern values have deeply enriched Brazilian society.

As the Chinese ambassador to Brazil for more than two years now, I have deeply felt the richness of friendly exchanges between these two big developing countries and the great momentum in the pursuit of common development.

At present, China-Brazil relations are the best they have been in history and have gone beyond the bilateral scope, with global and strategic significance. The two countries have enjoyed frequent high-level exchanges, and political mutual trust has been constantly deepened.

As important emerging market countries and members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), China and Brazil have maintained close collaboration in international affairs to jointly safeguard the interests of developing countries.

Bilateral trade and investment have witnessed rapid growth over the years. China stays stable as Brazil's largest trading partner, export destination and source of imports. Brazil is China's largest trading partner among Latin America and BRICS countries. Both sides have achieved fruitful results in cooperation in such fields as energy, mining industry, agriculture, finance, manufacturing and infrastructure construction, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples.

Additionally, active and close cultural and people-to-people exchanges are consolidating a social and public-opinion foundation for the development of bilateral relations.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between China and Brazil. Xi's state visit to Brazil will be a milestone in the history of bilateral relations. Looking to the future of China-Brazil relations, more efforts should be made to promote China's and Brazil's comprehensive strategic partnership to move forward constantly under the new circumstances.

The author is the Chinese ambassador to Brazil. This column first appeared in People's Daily.