This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Brazil. Strong bilateral ties were highlighted at the opening on Thursday of Brazil's third Consulate General in China in the southwest city of Chengdu. CGTN's Liu Yang interviewed Brazil's Ambassador to China, Marcos Galvao.

LIU YANG CGTN Reporter "I heard this is your first time in Sichuan. What's been your impression so far?"

MARCOS GALVAO Ambassador of Brazil to China "We're absolutely fascinated with the city and with the province, with everything we saw. And we had heard that this was the happiest city in China."

LIU YANG CGTN Reporter "Brazil has become Sichuan's largest trading partner, and an essential partner in Latin America for scientific and cultural cooperation. Over the past five years, the average growth rate for annual trade between the two sides has remained above 15 percent. In 2023, Brazil's lithium ore, wood pulp and soybean exports to Sichuan all achieved double-digit growth. The trend sets a positive tone for future cooperation. What are your expectations for the coming years?"

MARCOS GALVAO Ambassador of Brazil to China "Brazil is one of China's largest trading partners today and has been for some time, China's Brazil's largest trading partner. There is a lot of investment from Chinese companies going into Brazil. We are the number one provider of agricultural products to China. 25 percent of all agricultural products that China bought from the whole world came from Brazil by far. Sichuan is very strong agricultural province, so this is something that we can share information on it because we both have strong competitive agricultural sectors. The strength and the growing strength of Sichuan in technological terms. So this is also a priority for us that we can share knowledge that we can share science and technology. One of the first cooperation projects we established with China was back in 1988 in the construction and launching of joint launching of satellites."

LIU YANG CGTN Reporter "This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Brazil. China is an important source of direct investment for Brazil, covering many fields such as manufacturing, energy, mining, agriculture and infrastructure. Which areas do the two countries need to strengthen cooperation and development in? What further plans does Brazil have for cooperation?"

MARCOS GALVAO Ambassador of Brazil to China "I think that the areas that need to be strengthened are exactly what I mentioned, science and technology, and more investment in the industry. This is happening from some companies in China that are going to Brazil now to invest in energy, electricity, oil, and gas, electric vehicles, electric buses, construction of batteries, almost half of all the investment of China today is in electricity, clean electricity by the way. We are very strong in terms of clean energy, energy transition and also water."

LIU YANG CGTN Reporter "But some Western media outlets speculate the Chinese economy has already peaked. How do you view the future of China's economy and its contributions to the global economic recovery?"

MARCOS GALVAO Ambassador of Brazil to China "It's important for the global economy that China continue to grow at a strong pace. China has been contributing in this sense to world growth for some time now. So it's positive for the world economy that China continue to grow. And given the relative size of China in the global economy. This is something that the global economy welcomes that China continue to grow, certainly Brazil does."