CTG Brasil powers up to meet country's higher energy needs

A construction site of CTG Brasil, which has spent some $7.27 billion in asset acquisitions and system upgrades in Brazil in the past four years. [Photo/China Daily]

"That view was of the country's potential for combining Chinese and Brazilian expertise for the development and operation of large-scale renewable energy generation projects - which is our core business."

The company's management believes that the combination of China's and Brazil's expertise in clean energy projects is a key component of its corporate culture.

CTG Brasil has long been positioning itself as a local company in Brazil, rather than a foreign-invested company aiming to strengthen its development, Li said.

"From the beginning, CTG Brasil has established itself as a Brazilian company, with a mostly-Brazilian team," Li said.

"Less than 5 percent of our 800 employees are Chinese. Most of the Chinese team members are not in executive positions, but contributing to the operations by sharing our international expertise," he added.

CTG Brasil is not the only Chinese business to have consistently built up its presence in Brazil.

Figures from the China-Brazil Business Council show that China has been increasing its investments there over the past few years, with total investment of $8.4 billion in 2016, up 13 percent year-on-year. China's new investments in Brazil reached $6.18 billion in the first half of 2017.

China and Brazil are also taking measures to strengthen economic ties, aiming to promote long-term development.

The two nations signed a memorandum of understanding on Aug 1 to diversify service trade, and upgrade their commercial structures for commodity and goods exchanges.

The agreement was designed to encourage them to improve services trade in eight areas including engineering, architecture, e-commerce, banking automation and tourism to enrich bilateral trade ties over the next two years.