Spotlight: The agreements Brazil signed with China at the G20 summit

The Brazilian government has signed dozens of agreements with China, marking a stark contrast to its relationship with the United States.

As part of his visit to Brazil during the G20 summit this week, in Rio de Janeiro, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to discuss bilateral relations and agreements.

“In the context of this visit, nearly 40 international agreements were signed in areas such as trade, agriculture, industry, investments, science and technology, communications, health, energy, culture, education and tourism,” Lula said at a press briefing.

During the summit, Lula held talks with several other leaders, but the meeting with the Chinese leader produced far more agreements.

“As the two largest developing countries in their respective hemispheres, China and Brazil must proactively assume the great historical responsibility of safeguarding the common interests of Global South countries and promoting a more just and equitable international order,” said Xi Jinping during his speech. 

“We will deepen cooperation in priority areas such as economy and trade, finance, science and technology, infrastructure and sustainable production. Additionally, we will strengthen collaboration in emerging areas such as energy transition, digital economy, artificial intelligence and green mining."

China has been Brazil's biggest trading partner since the mid-2000s, and there is plenty of room to bolster the bilateral relationship in the area of investments. 

According to data from 2022, the most recently available from the Brazilian industry and development ministry, the country that invested most in Brazil was the United States, followed by Spain, the United Kingdom, France and then China.

Staying neutral

Outgoing US President Joe Biden had lunch with Lula, but there were no announced agreements between the two countries, with the US leader solely revealing a US$50mn contribution to Brazil’s Amazon Fund.

"What happened during the G20 was very symbolic, as Brazil showed that its partnership with China is stronger than ever. What further highlights this symbolism is that Brazil has opened room for competition here against Starlink, the company of Elon Musk, who will be part of Donald Trump's administration," André Pereira César, a political analyst at Hold Consultoria, told BNamericas.

The Brazil-China agreements included an MOU between state-run telco Telebras and China’s SpaceSail, which is developing a high-speed internet service through a system of low-earth orbit satellites. This cooperation could reduce the dominance that Starlink currently has over satellite internet services in Brazil.

Despite its close ties with China, the Lula administration has made it a priority to show the United States that it remains neutral in the global battle between the two giants, and this approach is expected to continue when Trump assumes power on January 20.

The Brazilian government used the G20 summit to show its commitment to this neutrality by opting not to join China’s Belt and Road initiative. 

Instead, it signed an accord with the Chinese government that will focus on potential synergies between the Belt and Road initiative and several of Brazil’s development initiatives, including its growth acceleration program PAC.

Meanwhile, Brazilian development bank BNDES and the China Development Bank (CDB) signed a first loan operation in Chinese currency, a three-year credit line worth 5bn renminbi (US$691mn). 

“The credit line will be used to support BNDES investments in various sectors of the Brazilian economy and represents an expansion of local currency cooperation between the two countries, a topic widely discussed within the BRICS framework, in addition to enabling the promotion of bilateral trade between China and Brazil, among other areas," BNDES said in a statement.