Lula wants to guard Brazil against unfavourable trade terms

The two countries are already members of the G20 bloc of developing states, designed to counter US and European bargaining power on trade.

In a statement issued in Beijing, the two said they would work to ensure the World Trade Organisation's negotiations "reflected everyone's interests".

Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is in China to heighten economic links between the countries.

The two countries are among the main protagonists in the G20's efforts to make world trade talks more beneficial to developing countries, not least the grouping's defeat of EU and US proposals in Cancun in 2003.

Brazil and China already have a strong trading relationship, worth $8bn in 2003 and more than five times the level of 2000.

Brazil's exports of primary products such as soy and iron are being sucked in by China's rapidly-growing economy.

In domestic terms, the fruits of the six-day trip are making themselves felt.

Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD), the world's number one iron ore miner, signed a $5bn deal on Tuesday.

CVRD will ship iron ore, alumina - a product of bauxite and a key ingredient in aluminium - and steel to feed China's factories, while China ships back coke - a fuel derived from coal or petroleum - to fire the firm's furnaces.