Premier Li Keqiang said on May 19 local time that China and Brazil have agreed to deepen their capacity cooperation.

He said the two sides will establish a capacity cooperation fund to provide financial support for bilateral projects.

Premier Li made his comments to reporters at a joint news conference with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff after the two leaders met earlier at the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Premier Li said China has compiled great experience in infrastructure construction from its years of fast development, producing quality equipment and offering competitive pricing. The two countries’ win-win cooperation will help quicken the pace of infrastructure construction in Brazil and create more jobs, he added.

The two nations also agreed to expand bilateral trade and strengthen financial cooperation to allow settling cross-border trade in the original currency, he said.

He said further cooperation between China and Brazil will boost people’s confidence in emerging economies and contribute greatly to the world’s economic recovery. He stressed that at a time of a weakening global economy, closer cooperation between China and Brazil boosts the confidence of emerging markets and also helps the world economy recover.

Rousseff said that both China and Brazil have strong desires to strengthen mutually beneficial and pragmatic cooperation as well as build strategic and cooperative relations on the basis of equality and mutual trust.

She said Brazil hopes to further deepen cooperation with China in a number of areas, including energy resources, metallurgy, manufacturing, aerospace, agriculture, infrastructure construction and capacity, the expansion of two-way trade investment and financial cooperation.

The two sides will continue to maintain close cooperation and coordination in the United Nations, G20, BRICS and other multinational frameworks to play a greater role in international and regional affairs.

Before they met the press, Premier Li and Rousseff watched via a video connection a groundbreaking ceremony for an ultra-high-voltage DC transmission project in the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, which extends more than 2,000 kilometers from the north to the south of Brazil. Project leaders from the two countries reported via the connection the progress that has been made for China’s first ultra-high-voltage DC transmission project in the country.