Brazil and China have agreed on a plan of action to promote trade and cooperation in the services sector under a protocol signed on Tuesday in Shanghai, the Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services said in Brasilia.

Signed by the Secretary of Trade and Services, Marcelo Maia and the deputy minister of the Ministry of Commerce of China, Wang Shouwen, the action plan aims to implement the memorandum of understanding in the services sector signed in October 2016 by the Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, Marcos Pereira and China’s Minister of Commerce, Gao Hucheng.

The agreement will encourage foreign trade and bilateral investment in services and promote the exchange of information on best practices in the sector to foster services of higher quality, competitiveness and efficiency.

The Brazilian Ministry also reported that Secretary Marcelo Maria has begun negotiating a specific action plan for e-commerce with the Director General of the Department of Electronic Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce of China, Qian Fangli.

The action plan was signed on the sidelines of the 7th BRICS Trade Ministers’ meeting, held in Shanghai on 2 August.