BRICS (2009 FTA): CN, RU, BR, IN, ZA; AR*, DZ*, EG*, ID*, IR*, CM*, ML*, SN*, TH*, UZ*, FJ*, ET*, KZ*, TN*

folha.uol.com.br | Lula Finally Visits China, 12 Apr

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) arrives in China this Wednesday (12) with commercial and financial negotiations still underway with the country of Xi Jinping - they are to meet on Friday [14.04.23], in Beijing.

Earlier, on Thursday, the PT member will attend the inauguration of former president Dilma Rousseff at the BRICS New Development Bank, in Shanghai. Lula wants investment in new productive assets and infrastructure, including railroads and hydroelectric plants, while his Chinese counterpart demands Brazil's formal entry into the Belt and Road Initiative, which completes ten years in September....

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 12, 2023

...PTI: President Lula of Brazil is visiting China. Will there be a discussion on BRICS especially going forward in the future and considering Brazil also is an active partner?
Wang Wenbin: We released a preview on Brazilian President Lula da Silva's visit to China [Global Times 17.03.23, 10.04.23 MOU 2022] and shared with you China's expectations [People's Daily 02.02.23] for the outcomes of the visit. As for the details of President Lula's visit to China, we will issue press releases in due course. Please check back for updates.

China's position on BRICS cooperation is consistent [fmprc BR-CN 2013]. We are ready to work with relevant countries to advance BRICS cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and equality and make our due contribution to world peace and development and solidarity and cooperation among developing countries....

folha.uol.com.br | Lula Is Met by Dilma at The Airport upon Landing in China", 13 Apr

... At the hotel, Lula met with Dilma again. He is taking part in his Workers' Party colleague's inauguration at the head of the New Development Bank (NDB), better known as BRICS Bank, this Thursday (13). Surrounded by reporters and cameras, the former president avoided talking about the bank, promising news for the interview the next day. She praised Shanghai, where she is now living: "It's a very pleasant city, with beautiful landscaping, full of trees, flowers."

Dilma's inauguration ceremony is not Lula's only commitment during his visit to Shanghai. He is also meeting with the CEO of tech giant Huawei and separately with the CEOs of BYD and CCCC. Both the Brazilian president and Janja will have to be tested again for Covid 24 hours before meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing the next day....

riotimesonline | Brazil and China make agreements on trade, technology, and agribusiness, 14 Apr

The two countries' governments will have a work plan for cooperation in electronic certification for products of animal origin. There will also be a protocol on sanitary and quarantine requirements for processed protein from land animals to be exported from Brazil to China.

riotimesonline| Washington Post criticizes Lula's visit to China

...The publication notes the posture of Lula in the first three months of his mandate contrary to the policies of the "West". It pointed out that the Brazilian president refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, allowed Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro, and sent an advisor to meet with representatives of the Venezuelan dictatorship.

('Why not the yuan? Why not the real?' - Lula calls to find an alternative to US Dollar as trade currency)
[...]
The text also criticized the economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS)....

fmprc | President Xi Jinping Holds Talks with Brazilian President Lula da Silva, 14 Apr

...President Xi noted that for China, 2023 is the first year of fully implementing the guiding principles set forth at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The CPC is leading the entire nation in a concerted effort to turn China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance national rejuvenation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. On this new journey, China will pursue high-quality development, accelerate the creation of a new development paradigm and promote high-standard opening-up, This will unlock new opportunities for Brazil and countries around the world....

IMF imperial basket: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY
FT | Brazil's Lula calls for end to dollar trade dominance, 14 Apr, illustrated

... Kicking off his first state visit to China since taking office in January, Lula called for the countries of the so-called Brics group of nations -- which in addition to Brazil and China includes Russia, India and South Africa -- to come up with their own alternative currency for use in trade.

"Every night I ask myself why all countries have to base their trade on the dollar," Lula said in an impassioned speech at the New Development Bank in Shanghai, known as the "Brics bank".

"Why can't we do trade based on our own currencies?" he added, drawing loud applause from the audience of Brazilian and Chinese dignitaries. "Who was it that decided that the dollar was the currency after the disappearance of the gold standard?"

Lula's call to shed dollar dependence dovetailed with Beijing's increasing efforts to promote use of the renminbi [RMB] in settlement of cross-border [read: offshore FX] commodities trades, as Chinese policymakers seek to strengthen the role of the world's second-largest economy in the global financial system.....

euractiv | US, UK, EU officials met with financial firms on Russian sanctions evasion, 13 Apr

[...]
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Bank [WB] and International Monetary Fund [IMF]spring meetings, where top US intelligence officials shared information on how Russia is using its GRU military intelligence agency and Federal Security Service (FSB) to try to evade sanctions and export controls...."To a person in that room, those financial firms demonstrated a willingness to do what they've been doing since the beginning of the war - which is to take seriously trying to prevent Russian evasion of those sanctions and export controls, not just in our jurisdictions, but also in third countries," the senior official said of Thursday's meeting.

[US] Treasury said participants included Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo; EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness; and Britain's Treasury Director General for International Finance Lindsey Whyte, along with CIA Deputy Director David Cohen and Deputy Director of National Intelligence Morgan Muir.
[...]