On the afternoon of May 18 local time, at the invitation of President Dilma Rousseff of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Premier Li Keqiang arrived at the Brasilia Air Base by special plane, starting his official visit to Brazil. Premier Li Keqiang's wife Mme. Cheng Hong arrived by the same plane.

The Brazilian guard of honor, lining up on either side of the red carpet, saluted the distinguished guests from afar with resonant bugle. Premier Li Keqiang and his wife warmly shook hands with the senior officials of the Brazilian government, Commander of the Brasilia Air Base who were greeting them. Li Jinzhang, Chinese Ambassador to Brazil, also greeted them at the airport.

Li Keqiang noted that this is his first visit to Latin America since he took office as the Premier of the State Council of China, with Brazil as the first stop. China and Brazil, both as developing countries with major influence, enjoy profound traditional friendship, complementarity in economic structures and compatibility in development strategies, and both are striving to develop economy and improve people's livelihood. China always views China-Brazil relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, appreciates the economic and social achievements made by Brazil, and is fully confident of the prospect of the bilateral relationship. He is looking forward to having in-depth exchanges of views with Brazilian leaders on further cementing mutual political trust, deepening practical cooperation, enhancing people-to-people and cultural exchanges and further improving the level and quality of China-Brazil mutually beneficial cooperation with a focus on cooperation in production capacity, equipment manufacturing, infrastructure construction, trade and investment and other sectors. He also expects to fully communicate with the Brazilian side on issues such as BRICS cooperation, climate change, international financial cooperation, China-Latin America relations and other international and regional issues of common interest, so as to safeguard and promote the common interest of emerging-market economies and other developing countries. It is believed that China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership will score new and greater progress after the visit.

Li Keqiang pointed out that Latin America has made great contribution to human civilization and progress of human society and is playing a significant role in the current development of the world. In recent years, China and Latin America have made leap-frog development in bilateral relations, establishing a comprehensive cooperative partnership featuring equality, mutual benefit and common development. He hopes that this visit could help to enhance China-Latin America exchanges, consolidate traditional friendship, push forward cooperation in production capacity, promote two-way trade and investment, and build an upgraded version of China-Latin America comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation.

During his visit to Brazil, Li Keqiang will hold talks and meet the press with President Dilma Rousseff, attend a video ground-breaking ceremony for the ultra-high voltage electricity transmission project in the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam and China-Brazil Business Summit, have separate meetings with presidents of Brazil's Federal Senate and Chamber of Deputies. Besides Brazilian capital of Brasília, Li Keqiang will also pay a visit to Rio De Janeiro to inspect the achievements made in bilateral cooperation in equipment and visit the Chinese Equipment Manufacturing Industry Exposition.

Li Keqiang and his wife Mme. Cheng Hong arrived in Brasília after successfully concluding their transit visit to Ireland. Upon their departure from Shannon Airport, representatives of the government, Finance Minister and other senior officials of Ireland as well as Xu Jianguo, Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, bade them farewell at the airport.