Brazil will do all it can to facilitate China being recognized as a market economy, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said after winning pledges from counterpart Hu Jintao (
In his meetings with Hu on Monday, Lula said Brazil would "immediately set about handling issues concerning the recognition of China's status as a market economy," state media reported yesterday.
So far, New Zealand and Singapore have granted the status to China while preliminary discussions are underway with the US.
A public hearing is scheduled in Washington on June 3, although Beijing is unlikely to win the recognition from Washington it craves, experts say.
"For Brazil to recognize China's market economy status will enrich the bilateral strategic partnership and boost trade and economic cooperation between the two countries," Hu was cited as saying by the Xinhua news agency.
China's non-market economy status puts it at a serious disadvantage in anti-dumping investigations.
It means other countries can use prices of third-country markets as a benchmark to compare with domestic prices in determining whether Chinese products have been dumped or not.
Brazil and China -- two of the world's largest developing nations -- have already joined forces to launch the G20 group of developing nations that brought WTO talks in Cancun, Mexico, to a standstill over demands that rich countries eliminate farm subsidies.
In a joint communique, Hu and Lula agreed that global multi-polarization was "a fundamental element in meeting global and regional threats and challenges and addressing disputes peacefully."
In the communique, the two leaders called for multilateral trade negotiations to put "priority" on the concerns of the developing world.
"On this ground, the two sides stress the core role of agricultural negotiation and the constructive role played by the 20 coordinating nations," it said.
They promised to strengthen coordination at the Doha round of trade negotiations to ensure results were "in line with the interests of all sides," especially the interests of the developing world.
Bilaterally, Lula has been keen to boost exports to China during his four-day trip to help Brazil's struggling economy, and agreements were signed to promote cooperation in health, commerce, science, agriculture, food safety and sports.
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