Emerging economies are now playing an increasingly important role in global affairs, China's Ambassador to Brazil Qiu Xiaoqi has said.

The rise of emerging countries, especially the BRIC countries, plays an important role in global economic recovery and global governance reform, said Qiu in a recent interview with Xinhua ahead of the second BRIC summit in Brazil. The first summit was held in Russia in 2009.

"As everyone knows, the BRIC countries have contributed to about 50 percent of the world economic growth in recent years. It can be expected that, in the future, they will have an even greater impact on global economic and financial affairs," he said.

The development of those countries also contributed a lot to building a multi-polar world, Qiu said.

The ambassador said he believed the development of the emerging countries will facilitate the establishment of a more fair and reasonable world political and economic system.

Meanwhile, the emerging countries are seeking closer cooperation both among themselves and with other countries, Qiu added.

He said the cooperation among the BRIC countries is open and transparent with a goal of promoting a more balanced world, stressing their cooperation is based upon equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.

The ambassador also hailed the smooth development of the China-Brazil relationship in recent years.

"Bilateral relations between the two countries have entered an expressway," he said, citing frequent high-level contacts between the two countries in the past two years.

"All this proved a strengthened mutual political trust, which is something like a locomotive for the development of bilateral relations," he said.

"Led by this locomotive, the two countries are strengthening cooperation and exchanges in various fields such as economy, trade, culture, science and technology," he added.

Since last April, China has become the largest trading partner of Brazil and the largest market for Brazilian exports, and more and more Chinese enterprises are willing to invest in Brazil and participate in Brazil's development process, according to Qiu.

The second summit of the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- is to be held on April 15-16 in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia.