Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday he would invite his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to Brazil, speaking on the eve of his departure to the Asian country in a bid to tighten relations between the two countries.

“I am going to invite Xi Jinping to come to Brazil, for a bilateral meeting, to get to know Brazil, to show him the projects that we have of interest for Chinese investment,” he said in an interview to state-owned broadcasting company EBC, adding he is planning to “consolidate” the relationship with China.

The trip to China comes little more than two months after Lula met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House, as Brasilia aims for a pragmatic foreign policy balancing ties with its top trading partners despite growing tensions between the two.

“What we want is for the Chinese to make investments to generate new jobs and generate new productive assets in Brazil,” Lula added.

His comments came shortly after a speech marking his 100th day in office, during which he said he still thinks the country’s interest rates are “too high” and hinder economic growth, but he is sure congress will approve the long-awaited new fiscal framework.

He also said Brazil would soon launch tenders for solar and wind energy and that he will not miss the opportunity to turn Latin America’s largest country into a green hydrogen powerhouse.

Lula’s trip to China, Brazil’s top trading partner, was initially scheduled for March, but was postponed after he was diagnosed with a mild pneumonia. He will meet Xi as well as Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang next Friday.

-Reuters