Backgrounder: Brief introduction to Portuguese-speaking countries -- Brazil

The Second Conference of the Forum on Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese- speaking Countries will be held here from Sept. 24 to 25. The following is a brief introduction to Brazil, one of the seven Portuguese-speaking countries:

Spanning an area of 8.514 million square km in east South America and bordering on the Atlantic Ocean to the east of the country, Brazil has a population of 181.6 million.

Brazil enjoys special favors of nature in resources reserves of iron, uranium, bauxite, manganese, petroleum, natural gas and coal. With its verified reserve of iron ore amounting to 65 billion tons, Brazil is the world's largest iron ore producer and exporter. It also ranks third in the world in terms of ore reserves of uranium, bauxite and manganese. Most of the Amazon Tropical Rainforest, known as the "Earth's lung", is also located in the Brazilian territory.

Being the largest economy in Latin America, Brazil has reached the advanced world levels in technologies in such areas as nuclear power, telecommunications, electronics, aircraft manufacturing, information technology and military industry. Its industries of iron and steel, automobile, shipbuilding, petroleum, chemical, electricity and shoemaking are fairly competitive in the global market. Acclaimed as the "21st Century's World Barn", Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer and exporter, and its production of sugar cane and oranges also ranks first in the world.

The history of contact between China and Brazil could be dated back to more than a century ago. Today, Brazil is China's largest trading partner in Latin America; and China is Brazil's fourth largest trading partner and third largest exports market. China's major exports to Brazil include electrical appliances, electronic devices, machinery equipment, metals, computers, telecommunication products, life science products, coke, textiles and coal. Brazil's exports to China include beans, iron ore, transportation machines and equipment, electrical appliances and electronic products, rolled steel, pulp, automobile parts, leather and timber. At present, China's actual investment in Brazil reaches 129 million U. S. dollars, mainly in such areas as mining, household electrical appliances assembling, timber processing, telecommunication, trade and services. Brazil's actual investment in China comes to about 89 million U.S. dollars, mainly involving refrigerator compressors, regional aircraft, hydropower, automobile parts, shoemaking and services. The successful cooperation between China and Brazil in satellite and regional aircraft has set an example for South-South cooperation in high and new technology.

Source: Xinhua