Pushing China Pakistan Economic and Trade Relations to a New Level

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that from April 12th to 15th, Brazilian President Lula will pay a state visit to China, marking a "new moment" in bilateral relations between China and Pakistan. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan for nearly half a century, bilateral relations have steadily advanced and played a positive role in promoting regional and global stability and prosperity. Brazil is the first developing country to establish a strategic partnership with China and the first Latin American country to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. China has become Brazil's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years and is also an important source of direct investment for Brazil. In recent years, China and Brazil, both major developing countries, important emerging market countries, and BRICS countries, are working together to explore broader cooperation space. Analysts pointed out that Lula's visit to China is an important part of a series of major diplomatic actions after adjusting its foreign policy. Brazil plans to communicate with China on a series of issues such as trade, technology, education, culture, climate change, and regional hotspots, aiming to further deepen bilateral cooperation and push bilateral relations to a new level.
Building a solid foundation for economic and trade cooperation
From the appearance of Brazilian meat products across the sea at Chinese dining tables, to the negotiation and cooperation between Brazilian companies and China at the CIIE, and to the "Made in China" rail train running through Brazil's largest city, S ã o Paulo... In recent years, China Brazil's economic and trade cooperation has shown a pragmatic and accelerated quality improvement feature.
From the perspective of President Lula's governance style, he attaches great importance to developing relations with China and views cooperation between the two countries from multiple aspects such as Brazil's global strategy, regional cooperation, and bilateral relations. Wang Lei, director of the BRICS Cooperation Center at Beijing Normal University, stated in an interview with China Trade Daily that Lula's visit to China will usher in a new stage of comprehensive cooperation between the two most representative emerging economies in the world, It is of great significance for promoting solidarity and cooperation among developing countries and promoting South-South cooperation.
According to Chinese customs statistics, the bilateral trade volume between China and Pakistan in 2022 was 171.49 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%. Among them, China's export volume reached 61.97 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15.7%; The import volume was 109.52 billion US dollars, which was the same as the previous year. At present, Brazil is the largest source of imports for China's soybeans, chicken, and other important agricultural products, such as corn, have also achieved exports to China and rapidly increased. China is also an important source of direct investment for Brazil, and bilateral practical cooperation is steadily advancing, covering a wide range of fields such as manufacturing, energy, and agricultural infrastructure.
In recent times, trade and investment exchanges between China and Pakistan have become increasingly close, and economic complementarity has been continuously enhanced. China and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing RMB Clearing Arrangements in Brazil earlier this year, and the two countries will settle bilateral trade in their local currencies. In response, Liu Ying, the committee member and director of the Cooperative Research Department of the Chongyang Institute of Finance at Renmin University of China, stated in an interview with a reporter from China Trade News that this can reduce exchange losses and exchange rate volatility risks, thereby reducing the transaction costs of bilateral trade; It is also conducive to enhancing the degree of liberalization and facilitation of China Pakistan trade, and attracting more Brazilian and Chinese enterprises to participate in bilateral trade and investment. "Brazil and Argentina carried out bilateral local currency cooperation earlier, which has led to the de dollarization process of the Southern Common Market. Therefore, the bilateral settlement of China Brazil local currency will also promote economic and trade cooperation between China and other countries in Latin America, and build a broader, more multi-level, more pragmatic and efficient cooperation channel." Liu Ying believes that this agreement also has a certain Spillover effect, and Latin American countries will also have more wait-and-see and expectations for cooperation with China, It is conducive to expanding the influence of the RMB in Latin America and promoting economic and trade exchanges between China and Latin America.
The release of positive cooperation intentions between China and Pakistan has a direct driving effect on consolidating financial and economic cooperation among BRICS countries, and will continue to promote the formation of a mutually beneficial and common development cooperation pattern among BRICS countries. Wang Lei believes that in the current increasingly complex international situation, BRICS countries, including China and Pakistan, can not only unite to address various major global challenges and promote regional stability, We will also contribute more efforts to building a more fair and reasonable world order.
Explore new growth points for cooperation
"Although there have been political changes in Brazil in recent years, it is worth noting that the cooperation between China and Brazil has not been deeply affected, which fully shows that the willingness of practical cooperation between the two countries is strong, especially in the field of economy and trade, which has been growing in quantity." Yue Yunxia, director of the Economic Research Office of the Institute of Latin America of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with our reporter that even during the epidemic period, the scale of China Brazil trade is growing steadily, Has demonstrated strong resilience.
It is worth noting that Lula's visit to China will lead a large delegation, including several cabinet ministers, governors, 39 lawmakers, and 240 business leaders. Lula will also visit the headquarters of the BRICS New Development Bank in Shanghai and attend the inauguration ceremony of former Brazilian President Rousseff as the President of the BRICS New Development Bank.
Yue Yunxia observed that Brazil's massive delegation to China this time not only demonstrates the sincerity of cooperation, but also indicates that the cooperation between the two countries is constantly undergoing quantitative changes, and they both want to promote a qualitative leap. Based on the existing foundation, they should coordinate cooperation mechanisms, jointly solve deep-seated problems in bilateral economic and trade cooperation fields such as imbalanced trade structure and enterprise investment barriers, and further explore new growth points of cooperation.
The deep coordination of the cooperation mechanism between the two sides this time will play a role in clearing mines and paving the way, laying a solid foundation for the sustained and healthy development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the future. Yue Yunxia said that China is steadfast in expanding its policy of opening up to the outside world, continuously implementing measures of trade liberalization and investment facilitation, and the huge market and demand will provide strong impetus for the development of Brazil's economy.
The reporter observed that the current trade between the two countries is concentrated in traditional fields such as commodities and industrial manufactured goods. Brazil exports soybeans, corn, iron ore, etc. to China; China mainly exports mechanical equipment, computer and communication technology equipment, instruments, textiles, steel, transportation tools, etc. to Brazil. However, in recent years, the willingness of the two countries to cooperate in emerging trade and industrial investment fields has been increasingly strengthened, including communication technology, new energy vehicles, green economy, and digital economy. Brazilian companies also hope to open up more cooperation space in emerging fields.
Wang Lei stated that China Pakistan economic and trade cooperation has broad development prospects in fields such as finance, agriculture, tourism, aviation and aerospace. He suggested further leveraging the leadership and top-level design role of the China Pakistan High Commission in promoting China Pakistan economic and trade cooperation, and creating a new blueprint for China Pakistan economic and trade cooperation; Continuously expanding bilateral investment between China and Pakistan to consolidate the overall situation of China Pakistan economic and trade cooperation through investment cooperation; Further enhance and expand the global space for China Pakistan economic and trade cooperation, especially promoting policy communication and position coordination between China and Pakistan under major multilateral mechanisms such as the World Trade Organization, the G20, and the BRICS countries.