Expointer 2023 – Seminar reinforces trade relations with China

One of the highlights of the Expointer 2023 program was the seminar ″Opportunities and challenges in the Brazil-China economic partnership: strengthening ties for Cooperation with a focus on mutual development″.

The event aimed to reinforce the commercial relationship between the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul (headquarters of Expointer) and Brazil with the Asian country.

Around 150 political, business, and sector leaders participated in the event, in addition to the Chinese delegation, who came for the first time to this fair, which is considered one of the most important on the Brazilian calendar.

A video of the Chinese ambassador to Brazil, Zhu Qingqiao, was presented at the event. He highlighted that companies from Rio Grande do Sul represent almost 70% of Brazilian investment in the Asian country.

″Rio Grande do Sul is a force in the Sino-Brazilian partnership,″ said the ambassador, who reiterated the interest in continuing with the commercial alliance and cited infrastructure, energy, telecommunications, innovation, agriculture, and green transition as the focus sectors.

″Gaúcho products exported to China are excellent, and we want to increase their volume and diversity,″ emphasized Secretary of Agriculture Giovani Feltes.

The president of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), Li Lin, highlighted Rio Grande do Sul's leadership in several areas and its long history with China. He recalled that the relationship began in agribusiness, but today it extends to finance and technology. ″I hope that, in the future, relations will become even closer,″ he projected.

Guo Yinghui, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), China's trade promotion office in Brazil, pointed out that the Chinese delegation is optimistic, especially with the partnership in infrastructure.

″There are many consonances between companies and the desire of people from Rio Grande do Sul to promote sustainable processes, which places the State as fundamental for the development of Brazil,″ he commented.

″I leave here optimistic about the improvement of investments that are already taking place with Chinese capital in the State, especially in infrastructure,″ said the president of the Brazil-China Parliamentary Front, state deputy Jeferson Fernandes.

The seminar is an offshoot of the State's mission to China, held in March 2023. The next step is the organization of a mission to Beijing in November to participate in the World Supply Chain Fair (CISCE), organized by the Chinese government.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)