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Rio de Janeiro state officials will meet with executives from China Development Bank Corp. to seek financing for infrastructure investments tied to the 2016 Olympics, said Joaquim Levy, the state’s finance secretary.

Levy said in an interview at a Latin American hedge fund conference in Miami that he hopes the Chinese bank will help finance part of the planned $11 billion in infrastructure projects before the Olympics.

He declined to give details on the negotiations with China Development, the country’s state-run bank for public works projects. The bank’s Vice President Li Jiping said on July 29 that it may open a Rio de Janeiro area office next year.

The Beijing-based lender agreed earlier this year to lend $10 billion to Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company.

Rio was selected this month to host the 2016 Olympics and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vowed to use the international spotlight to improve security and conditions for millions of poor people living in favelas, the Portuguese term for slums, ringing the so-called “Marvelous City.”

Police in Rio de Janeiro killed four alleged criminals today, bringing to 29 the number of people killed in drug violence since Oct. 17.

Violence escalated after rival drug gangs shot down an armor-plated police helicopter during clashes for control of the drug trade in a hillside slum known as Monkey Hill, O Globo reported, citing police. Two officers died during the crash and a third died Oct. 19 from injuries.

Rio de Janeiro residents today awoke to the front page photograph in O Globo newspaper of children walking past a shirtless cadaver stuffed in a supermarket cart, underscoring the wave of recent killings.

Last year, 4,453 people were killed in the Rio metropolitan area of 12.1 million, according to government statistics, compared with 510 in Chicago, whose population is 2.8 million.

(Source: Bloomberg)