Chinese automaker GAC is ?? ??? ??planning to set up an assembly plant and a research and development center in Brazil, as one of its senior executives met on Monday with Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is on a state visit to China. “GAC’s mission is to strengthen Brazil-China ties and foster mutual development,” Wei Haigang, president of GAC International, told Lula in Beijing, adding that the company hopes to “propel technological innovation in Latin America’s largest economy,” according to a press release. The state-owned automaker said it will hold a brand launch event in Sao Paulo on May 23, without providing further details. A manufacturing partner of Toyota and Honda in China for more than two decades, GAC operates three overseas production facilities in Nigeria, Malaysia, and Thailand, and has offices in several other countries including Russia and Mexico. [GAC release]