Brazil holds parade to mark 204th Independence Day

Brazil celebrated its 204th Independence Day on Monday with a massive military parade in the capital of Brasilia, commemorating the anniversary of its declaration of independence from Portugal in 1822.

The event was attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and other high-ranking Brazilian government officials.

The military parade lasted about two hours, featuring participants from Brazil's army, navy, air force, as well as police and fire departments. The parade included marching formations, armored columns, cavalry units, and an impressive aerobatic display by the air force.

"Today is the day we celebrate our sovereignty, our Independence, and our pride in being Brazilian -- our culture, our achievements, and everything that represents being a citizen of this country," said Carlos Eduardo Alves, a spectator.

"It is a public expression, through which we show our love for the homeland," said Joao Bruno Dias, another spectator.

This year's parade highlighted themes of national sovereignty, the protection of women and children, and Brazil's role as the host nation for the 2027 Women's World Cup.

According to data from the presidential palace, around 70,000 people watched the parade on site.

Brazil holds parade to mark 204th Independence Day

ABB Group CEO Morten Wierod said China remains one of the Swiss-Swedish engineering giant's most strategic markets, with more than one billion​ U.S. dollars invested in the country over the last ten years and further investment planned over the next five.

"We always see China as a good market. For ABB, it's our second largest market. It stands for about 11 percent of the revenue of the company. So it's a very important market, but we also see access to talent. We have more than 13,000 people of our team here, more than 2,000 of those into technology, into research and development, making the new solutions for customers," he said at a recent interview with the China Global Television Network.

The CEO pointed to a combination of market scale, local engineering strength and deepening industrial demand as the reason for ABB's long-term commitment.

"So we see good opportunities in the market. We have a very strong local team. That combination made a lot of confidence, so we invested more than one billion U.S. dollars over the last 10 years. When we look into the next five years, we also see a similar development and continued strong, continued investment in the market," he said.

ABB Group CEO on investment in China