China's rapid economic development has been instrumental in promoting global economic growth and brought important opportunities for development in Latin American countries, including Brazil, a Brazilian government official said Wednesday.

China's fast economic growth has fueled its demand for Latin American products and Bralizia's exports to China have grown markedly in recent years, Mauro Couto, special assistant to the minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, told Xinhua in an interview.

China has become Brazil's No. 1 trading partner in Asia and the third biggest export market in the world for Brazilian goods, after the United States and Argentina, he said.

The economies of Brazil and China are highly complementary and the two countries can conduct cooperation in such fields as agriculture, mining, big construction projects, bio-energy and textiles, he said.

But he admitted that lack of enough knowledge about each other has been a hindrance to increased bilateral trade and economic cooperation, as the two countries are far apart geographically.

Therefore, Brazil hopes the two countries will expand exchanges at various levels in the areas of politics, trade, science and technology and culture, and encourages its businesses to have direct trade with their Chinese counterparts, he said.

He also said Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Ministry Luiz Fernando Furlan will visit China in late September on a mission to give a fresh impetus to the development of bilateral trade and economic links.

Source: Xinhua