SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Brazil announced two Chinese partnerships on Monday, including a $1 billion investment by China’s Envision Energy to produce sustainable aviation fuel, as the country’s president visits China.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with energy companies as well as with automaker GAC, and Chinese defense company Norinco.
Minister of Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira told journalists in China the Brazilian government would also seek to secure Chinese investments in data centers in Brazil and would be meeting TikTok on Tuesday.
Reuters reported last month that ByteDance, owner of TikTok, is considering installing data centers in the port of Pecem in the Brazilian state of Ceara. TikTok declined to comment.
According to a statement released in Brazil on Monday, Silveira told journalists the government was “making every effort” to improve infrastructure around the port where TikTok has a “a planned investment of 50 billion reais ($8.82 billion)”.
The Brazilian Presidential Palace said Envision Energy would be investing in the production of sustainable aviation fuel from sugarcane in Brazil.
In a separate statement, Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy said state-owned Chinese company Windey Energy Technology and Brazilian university Senai Cimatec would work together to develop renewable solutions, including energy storage.
($1 = 5.6687 reais)
(Reporting by Leticia Fucuchima; Writing by Isabel Teles; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Barbara Lewis)
