Rio Olympics expects more Chinese investment amid crisis

RIO DE JANEIRO - The Rio Olympics, which will kick off in 100 days, expects more Chinese firms to invest and sponsor amid political and economic troubles in Brazil.

In Wednesday's meeting with Song Yang, Chinese Consul General to Rio, the city mayor Eduardo Paes welcomes more support and investment from China.

"China has always been a trusted and key partner of Brazil. Beijing has many successful experiences which are worth for Rio to learn. Rio Olympics is an event drawing worldwide attention and Brazil is overcoming difficulties to meet the challenges," said Paes.

"Brazil welcomes Chinese companies and financial institutions to support Rio, seizing Olympic opportunity in such a great sports event."

Sidney Levy, Rio 2016 Committee Chief Executive Officer, and Ana Paula Pessoa, Rio 2016 Committee Executive Director of Finance, also expressed the same opinions at the meeting.

Levy and Ana introduced the Rio Olympics sponsorship mechanism and hoped Chinese companies in fields of oil and gas, electricity, minng, agriculture to join in sponsorship of the Olympics. They believed the Games would be a boon to Chinese companies exploring overseas markets, especially in Brazil.

Brazil's economy is in steep decline for the second straight year, meanwhile Brazilian unemployment has shot up to 10.2 percent. Olympic organizers have had to slash budgets, fueling fears of embarrassing delays.

Despite Brazil's economic and political turmoil, slow Olympic ticket sales and delays at some Olympic venues, Paes said he was optimistic at a press conference earlier on Wednesday.

"We arrived at this moment in a way many doubted we could," Paes said "There are some details and issues to be addressed, problems we saw in the test-events. But things are going well in the preparations."

As China hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, many Chinese companies with Olympic experience are keen to take part in the Rio Games. Amid the economic crisis in Brazil, Chinese companies have been an important role for the Rio Olympics.

Chinese sportswear company 361° became the official uniform supplier for the games, agreeing to provide more than 106,500 uniforms to technical staff, volunteers, test event personnel and torch relay participants.

Beijing Huajiang Culture Development Co Ltd (known as Honav), the licensee of lapel pins for the Beijing and London Olympics, is the licensed manufacturer and vendor for both mascots of Rio Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the official pins for the Games.

Other Chinese companies can also be found involved in the run-up to the Games. At the construction site of the main Olympic stadium, a variety of heavy machines from Chinese companies Sany, XCMG and Zoomlion are in use.

In transportation, the 100 highspeed subway trains produced by Changchun Railway Vehicles Co were completed in Changchun, Jilin province, and will come into service for the Rio Olympics.