Brasilia (AFP)

China is "increasingly part of the future" of Brazil, said Wednesday President Jair Bolsonaro, hoping to strengthen trade relations with Beijing, on the sidelines of the Brics Summit in Brasilia.

"We want not only to increase, but also to diversify our commercial relations," added the Brazilian right-wing head of state, after a bilateral meeting with his Chinese Communist counterpart Xi Jinping, which opposes everything. ideologically.

This Brics summit brings together the major emerging powers: Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa.

He stands in the context of a trade war between China and the United States, and Jair Bolsonaro must play the balancing act, between his concern to strengthen the trade with the Asian giant and not to offend his main ally on the international scene, United States.

Last year, he had drawn the wrath of Beijing accusing during his campaign China to want to "buy Brazil". But the situation is different now.

Xi Jinping on Wednesday referred to a "promising future" for trade relations between China and Brazil, with "increased mutual trust".

China is Brazil's largest trading partner, exporting massively soybean, meat and iron ore.

The two countries signed Wednesday a series of agreements, including on transportation, the export of Brazilian fruit to China and the facilitation of Chinese investments in Brazil.

Beijing has already actually invested or promised to invest $ 102 billion in Brazil from 2007 to 2018, first in commodities, then industry, finance, energy and infrastructure, according to the Business Council Brazil -China.

Xi Jinping gave another guarantee to the Bolsonaro government by assuring "confidence in Brazil's ability" to preserve the Amazon.

Visibly satisfied with this support while his environmental policy is criticized from all sides, Jair Bolsonaro thanked China for having "defended the sovereignty of Brazil on the Amazon".

"It is a gesture of greatness that has given us a lot of strength and we will be eternally grateful to you," said President Bolsonaro, recently pinned by the international community for downplaying the extent of wildfires in the Amazon.

Russian presidents Vladimir Putin and South African Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are also in Brasilia for the summit.

A bilateral meeting between the leaders of India and Russia took place Wednesday in Brasilia.

"All the agreements, obtained during our previous meetings, are being set up (...), we are carrying out large bilateral projects in different fields," said Vladimir Putin, quoted by the agency public RIA Novosti.

"We are moving at a fast pace" in bilateral relations, welcomed Narendra Modi, according to his words translated into Russian.

© 2019 AFP