Brazilian president on trade-heavy visit to China

[April 12, 2011]  BEIJING (AP) -- Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is presiding over the signing of a raft of business deals Tuesday during a state visit to Beijing that includes meetings with her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and other top officials.

Coinciding with Rousseff's visit, Brazilian plane maker Embraer announced the sale of 30 of its 190 regional passenger jets to Chinese operators in a major boost for the company's prospects in the increasingly competitive China market.

One-year-old airline Hebei Airlines agreed to buy 10 of the 99-seat planes, while CDB Leasing Co. ordered 10 for use by major carrier China Southern in the far northwestern region of Xinjiang, and signed a letter of intent to buy 10 more, Embraer said.

Along with an earlier order for 10 of Embraer 190s, the new deal brings the total value of CDB Leasing's planned purchases of 30 of the planes to $1.25 billion, Embraer said. No figures were given for the amount to be paid by Hebei Airlines.

Rousseff is leading a delegation of business leaders from many of Brazil's top companies on her six-day trip to China, which includes a meeting of the BRICS developing economies in the southern resort city of Sanya.

She was meeting with Hu on Tuesday and would later attend a signing ceremony for a number of commercial agreements, including by national electric company Eletrobras and state-run energy giant Petrobras.

[Associated Press]

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