China signs US$27 billion oil, trade deals with Brazil
Agreements come on the first full day of Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Latin American nation
China’s Premier Li Keqiang lifted the wraps on a multibillion-dollar series of trade and investment deals with Brazil, as Beijing looks to invest tens of billions in South America’s largest economy.
The news unveiled at the start of Li’s first official visit to Latin America is a huge boon for Brazil as it endures a fifth straight year of low growth after a period of rapid expansion fuelled by Asian demand for commodities that has since slowed.
Li’s host, President Dilma Rousseff, hopes Brazil can direct Chinese cash to overhaul decaying infrastructure as the country’s tourist magnet Rio de Janeiro prepares to host South America’s first ever Olympics next year.
Headlining 35 deals on Li’s first official visit to Latin America were a pair of finance and cooperation agreements worth US$7 billion for Brazil’s state-owned oil firm Petrobras.
Li put the total value of Tuesday’s agreements at US$27 billion, while Rousseff said they totaled US$53 billion, a ballpark figure that aides said included past and future funding.
Aside from the Petrobras agreements, Rousseff and Li also signed a range of deals designed to further cooperation on trade, investment, agriculture, energy and transport.
