Rousseff opens Weibo account to promote Rio Olympics in China

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has opened an account on social network Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, to promote Rio de Janeiro's upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games among almost 600 million users in the Asian country, announced official sources on Thursday.

Rousseff opened the account on Wednesday and in less than 24 hours she had over 1,000 followers, according to state-run Agencia Brasil.

The president's aim is to spread information from the preparations taking place in Rio to the actual event and the results.

In her first publication, Rousseff posted a one-minute-long video, in Portuguese with Chinese subtitles, inviting users of the Chinese network to attend the Games "along with the followers from all over the world" in this "celebration of peace."

"Here you can experience the Brazilian people's joy and energy. Brazil is awaiting the Chinese athletes and followers with open arms," assured the president in the video.

Rousseff's Weibo profile is encouraged by Rio de Janeiro's Municpal Ministry for Sports and Leisure as it wants to show Rio, the social projects, the transformation legacy and the social inclusion through sport, to China. At the same time, the online account will create business opportunities for Brazilian companies in China.

During the Olympic Games 2012 in London, Weibo reached 4 billion messages, arriving at 20,000 messages per second. Brazilian authorities hope to exceed this figure during the Rio Olympics in August.