Closer ties between Brazil and China will be one of the results of the visit by the president of China, Hu Jintao, which begins tomorrow, November 11, and runs to November 23.
Expectations are that the visit will be positive for trade relations, says Fernando Ribeiro, the head economist at the Foreign Trade Study Center Foundation (Funcex).
Ribeiro goes on to say that in the short-term China is more of a potential market than a competitor because the two countries do not export similar products, except in textiles and footwear.
He calls China an exceptional market, pointing out that it has grown at an average of 9.2% per year.
The Ministry of Development reports that Brazilian exports to China this year rose 28.67%, while imports from China rose almost 74%.
That is exactly the opposite of what happened in 2003, when exports rose almost 80%, and imports from China were up 38%.
Ribeiro says that in the future the two countries could compete in many areas of foreign trade.
Minister of Development, Luiz Fernando Furlan, says that one of the main objectives of Brazil during the Hu Jintao visit is to obtain permission for access to the Chinese market for Brazilian meats.
The two countries signed animal sanitation agreements two years ago, explains the minister, but the Chinese still do not import Brazilian meats.
Agência Brasil
Translator: Allen Bennett