Brazil and China Tuesday in Brasilia signed 35 cooperation agreements in eight sectors involving investments of US$53 billion, during an official visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, according to the Brazilian press.

With oil company Petrobras alone China signed three cooperation agreements involving at least US$7 billion, at an event attended by President Dilma Rousseff and the Chinese Prime Minister, following earlier meeting in the Presidential Palace.

The three agreements with Petrobras, one of them signed by the chairman of the oil company, Aldemir Bendine, and the President of the China Development Bank, Hu Huaibang are worth a total of US$5 billion and another agreement, also signed by Bendine and the President of Export Import Bank (ExIm) of China involves US$2 billion.

Of the 35 agreements signed between the two countries, another that is worth mentioning relates to preparation of feasibility studies for a transcontinental railway project, which is intended to build a railway linking Brazil to Peru and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Other agreements provide for construction of the metallurgical complex of Maranhão, financing for the purchase of 40 aircraft from Embraer by China, cooperation in nuclear technology and creation of the automobile hub of Jacarei, in São Paulo as well as another related to funding for building 14 ships of 400,000 tons each to transport iron ore.

Brazil, which in 2014 exported products worth over US$51.9 billion to China, has soy as its main source of business, with a total of US$16.6 billion in 2014, according to figures from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

Iron ore accounted for US$12.3 billion, followed by oil (US$3.5 billion), cellulose (US$1.4 billion) and sugar (US$880 million).

After Brazil, Li Keqiang is due to visit Colombia, Peru and Chile, where he is also due to sign a number of agreements related to investment projects.(macauhub/BR/CN)