On its website, the ministry quotes Mr Lavrov as saying it is "with due attention" that Russia takes "the legitimate aspiration of Brazil, as an influential regional power making a worthy contribution to the maintenance of international stability, to get a seat as a permanent member of the [UN] Security Council." He reportedly assured his Brazilian audience that Russia would be willing to support Brazil's bid in case a broad-based agreement was reached on Security Council expansion.
In Mr Lavrov's opinion, Russo-Brazilian relations should now be brought up to a qualitatively higher level-that of practical partnership.
To make it happen, the governments of Russia and Brazil will have to move from rhetoric on to actions, launching concrete collaborative projects, bilateral and international alike. The two countries have all necessary prerequisites for this, the Russian Foreign Minister argues.
They are consistently advancing toward the formation of a technological alliance in high-tech sectors, such as space, power engineering, and defense. And in politics, they have identical or similar views on all major problems of international concern.
Mr Lavrov recalled a remark made by former Brazilian President Fernando Enrique Cardoso, "Brazil is a tropical Russia."
"Indeed, our nations have a lot in common from the geographic, sociological and economic points of view... In these conditions, it is extremely important that we have no conflicting interests, which is essential for stepping up our relations and bringing them to a higher level," pointed out the Russian minister.
