Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Photo: File

After postponing his trip for a day due to mild pneumonia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 77, begins this Sunday one of his most important visits to China, Brazil's main trading partner since 2009 and one of its biggest investors.

Unlike his recent visit to the US, which barely lasted 24 hours, the Brazilian president will remain in the Asian giant until March 31.

During those days,

, in which he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday;

the prime minister, Li Qiang, and the president of the National People's Congress, Zhao Leji.

With a record of 150 billion dollars of commercial flow between the two countries in 2022, the Lula government wants to expand the sale of Brazilian products to China.

For this, the Brazilian president will be accompanied by an extensive entourage of businessmen:

, among whom at least 90 represent the powerful agribusiness sector.

Brazil exported to China

, and imported inputs for some 60.7 billion, with which it obtained a positive balance in its trade balance.

The Brazilian delegation will address in China issues related to technology, climate change, energy transition and the fight against hunger, which is, the latter, one of the most urgent commitments on the progressive leader's agenda.

Among the more than 20 agreements that will be signed, the exchange of semiconductor technologies, 5G, 6G and the construction of CBERS-6, a satellite manufactured between the two countries and that will allow monitoring of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, even if it is covered, stand

. by clouds.

The visit should also promote the arrival in Brazil of the Chinese electric car company

, which will occupy the facilities where the Ford factory in Bahia operated.

According to the newspaper

, the sale of 20 Embraer E-190 aircraft to Chinese aviation will also be completed.

Lula will also travel to Shanghai to visit the New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS group - made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

It is expected that, coinciding with that visit, next week the former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff will take office as the new president of the entity.

international relevance

An important group of governors, senators, deputies and six ministers will form part of the delegation.

The Brazilian president wants to consolidate his foreign policy and

during his previous terms, after the deteriorating legacy of former president Jair Bolsonaro, whom many called the "tropical Trump" due to his devotion to the American Donald Trump.

In the four years he was in power, the far-right has repeatedly criticized China, rejected that country's vaccine against covid-19 and even suggested that Beijing purposely caused the pandemic.

One of Bolsonaro's sons went so far as to openly accuse Beijing of spying through 5G technology, which caused significant political tension between the two countries.

Lula already announced this week that he intends to discuss the conflict in Ukraine with Xi, who this week visited Russia, and proposed a peace plan to President Vladimir Putin.

“Russia is not just any country, it is not insignificant.

Russia is very important to ensure that world peace prevails for many centuries," Lula said.

The Brazilian Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, declared in an interview with the Financial Times that Lula will propose to Xi to create a "Peace Club" to mediate an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

“We are very interested in promoting or helping to generate 

,” Vieira said.

In his third official visit to China as president -although the first in this mandate-, Lula completes his official agenda with his main trading partners: Beijing, Washington and Buenos Aires with this trip.

"The relationship between the two countries is good, rich and dense," said the secretary for the Asia and Pacific region of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Eduardo Paes Saboia.

“It is a moment in which Brazil and China speak to the world,” he asserted.

(With information from RT in Spanish)