Brasilia, April 25 (PL-RHC) -- The Brazilian foreign minister, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, met behind closed doors in Brasilia today to discuss strategic issues and prepare for the visit of the president of the Asian nation, Xi Jinping, to this nation.

Wang and Figueiredo are presiding over the First Global Strategic Dialogue between the two countries, which discusses the progress of political, economic and trade ties, as well as joint actions to be taken in international forums and organizations, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

It is expected that the two sides will also discuss details about Xi's first visit to Brazil in July to attend the sixth summit of the member nations of the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa) in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceará. The Chinese Minister arrived here, from Argentina, where he had been received by the president of that country, Cristina Fernández in her office at Government House.

With his visit to Brasil, Wang Yi will end his tour of Latin America which included Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba.

China is the largest trading partner of the country and in 2012 the bilateral trade reached 75 billion 400 million U.S. dollars. Of this amount, $ 200 million 41 thousand correspond to Brazilian exports.

Chinese Investments in this region have increased in the last five years and are concentrated in industrial sectors, service, science and technology and communications.