The presidents of China and Brazil will meet this evening during a Brazilian mission to Beijing designed to cement increasingly close relations between the two countries and sign a package of trade deals and finance for Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company, worth $10bn.
Trade between the two countries has picked up quickly this year after a sharp slowdown as the global economic crisis began to take hold. During the first four months of this year, China replaced the US as Brazil's biggest trading partner, as Chinese demand for Brazilian soya, iron ore and other goods returned to pre-crisis levels.
The mission begins officially tomorrow but presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Hu Jintao of China met informally over dinner last night, after which Mr Lula da Silva emerged describing Mr Hu as “my pal”, according to a member of his staff.