Russia, Brazil have many areas for boosting strategic partnership

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 18 (Itar-Tass) - Relations between Russia and
Brazil "are now at the stage of active development". This opinion was
expressed on Wednesday by Brazilian Minister of Strategic Affairs Roberto
Mangabeira Unger in a telephone talk with Itar-Tass.
"There is not a shadow in Russian-Brazilian relations," he said,
adding that Brazil takes enthusiastic efforts to consolidate relations
with Russia. According to the minister, "strategic cooperation with Russia
is based on cooperation in the defence sphere and in such fields as space
explorations, cybernetics and peaceful uses of nuclear energy".
The minister also mentioned agriculture as a graphic example of broad
opportunities for partnership. Incidentally, Russia could help Brazil in
this sphere, since it is "one of the most important world players in the
market of agricultural goods", as well as in shrinking dependence on
"import of fertilizers whose cost amounts to 40 percent of the final price
for agricultural goods".
Unger noted that Russia could carry out "industrialisation of
Brazilian production of fertilizers". The South American country could, in
response, "conclude long-term contracts for delivery of agricultural goods
to Russia, which would meet Russia's strategic interests to ensure its
food security," the minister continued.
He called as other interesting areas of cooperation the generation of
power by hydropower stations, biological fuel of second and third
generations, oil production from super-deep brine deposits near Brazilian
coasts, "using Russian experience and technology".
Unger was in Moscow in May to prepare the summit of the BRIC countries
(Brazil, Russia, India and China) and held, as he put it, "very
comprehensive" talks with first vice-premier Igor Shuvalov, vice-premier
Igor Sechin as well as Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko.
He expressed hope by way of conclusion that discussion of these topics
would continue over the next few weeks already in Brazil at the
intergovernmental level.
-0-bur