AFP, HANGZHOU: New Brazilian President Michel Temer insisted Friday his country has turned a page on years of crisis as he wooed businesses in China after replacing Dilma Rousseff in a bitter impeachment fight.
“Even though we suffered from political and economic upheaval, as well as economic downturn, this page has been turned,” Temer said in a speech in the Chinese commercial hub Shanghai.
“Brazil has put all the economic and political instability it suffered in the past few years behind us.”
Temer, 75, was seeking to consolidate his position after senators in Brasilia voted Wednesday to convict Rousseff on charges of having illegally manipulated government accounts. She rejected the effort as a “coup.”
Temer was promptly sworn in and came to China for the G20 summit which starts in nearby Hangzhou on Sunday.
On his international presidential debut in Brazil’s biggest export market, he oversaw the signing of billions of dollars’ worth of contracts by Brazilian companies.