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Brazil, China eye agriculture agreements
May 3, 2013, 9:55 am

[AP]

[AP]

Brazil is looking to cement agricultural ties with its biggest trade partner China.

The Brazilian Congress is expected to vote on a bill facilitating China’s participation in land purchasing in Brazil, announced Agriculture Minister Antonio Andrade on Thursday.

Brazil’s new agriculture minister Andrade will be visiting China on Saturday.

High on his agenda would be to persuade China to revoke a ban on Brazilian meat, imposed last year after reports of a case of mad cow disease in Brazil.

China is Brazil’s biggest trade partner in agriculture.

Andrade said Brazil will pitch for China to import more pork, chicken and corn from the Latin American country.

Brazil is also eyeing an agreement on corn export with China.

Andrade said Brazil is also interested in attracting Chinese investments to fulfill the needs of port and transportation infrastructure to boost agricultural production.

With the Chinese investment, “we could increase our production and reduce export costs,” he said.

In a major boost to economic ties between the two countries, China and Brazil have signed a new bilateral accord to use their national currencies in bilateral trade in a deal that will cover the equivalent of up to $30 billion in trade exchanges per year, for three years.

The deal was inked by the Chinese and Brazilian central bank governors and finance ministers in Durban in March.

With inputs from Xinhua