Brazil needs to keep pace with rise of “China 2.0”

Ji Ye (Xinhua) – English.people.cn, 09/09/2014

Brazil needs to develop a strategic vision in order to cooperate with China in a new era, said Marcos Troyjo, a Brazilian economist and co-director of the BRICLab at Columbia University, in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua.

According to Troyjo, the way China’s economy progressed over past 30 years following thecountry’s reform and opening-up policies is called “China 1.0.”

During that period of time, China took advantage of public-private partnership, cheap workforce and a favorable approach to foreign capital to become the largest manufacturing park in the world. According to Troyjo, China has now entered a new stage, which he calls “China 2.0,” and itshould no longer rely on governmental investment and foreign trade to simulate its economic development.

Read more…

Brics summit: Banking on a new global order

Katy Watson – BBC News, 7/13/2014

Brazil’s hospitality will now move from the pitch to politics, as it prepares to welcome the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to the sixth Brics summit in the north-eastern city of Fortaleza.

It is an annual diplomatic meeting that brings together these regional leaders and economic powerhouses. And every time it happens, there are questions about whether the Brics grouping is anything more than a catchy acronym.

“The Brics isn’t a trade bloc, it’s a group of letters making up a word and created by an economist,” says Jose Augusto de Castro, the president of the Brazilian Foreign Trade Association. “If Brazil exports to China, India or Russia, or vice versa, it doesn’t get any benefit – it’s just an informal grouping.”

Read more…