Brazil’s Temer plans BRICS trip after impeachment vote – source

By Alonso Soto

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer would attend the BRICS summit in India if President Dilma Rousseff is impeached by the Senate, a senior presidential aide told Reuters.

Temer, Rousseff’s vice president whom she accuses of conspiring to oust her, plans to keep strong ties with the other BRICS members India, China, Russia and South Africa, said the official who asked for anonymity to speak freely. India will host the BRICS summit in mid October.

A slowdown in China and crippling recessions in both Russia and Brazil are limiting the emerging group’s clout in a global economic stage long dominated by major Western economies.

In power since 2003, Rousseff’s leftist Workers’ Party was a key supporter of the group that first met in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009.

Rousseff, suspended over charges of breaking fiscal rules during her first term in office, is expected to be impeached by the Senate in late August.

After the Senate vote, right-leaning Temer plans to visit China in September as part of an Asian tour that could also take him to Japan and Vietnam, said the official. Temer aims to increase trade of industrial goods with China and attract investment to infrastructure projects

China is Brazil’s largest trade partner and a key buyer of iron ore, soy and corn, among other products.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Sandra Maler)