"We are willing to enhance long-term joint efforts in high technological fields-aircraft building, power industry, space efforts and military technologies," Russia's President Vladimir Putin said to a news conference as he summed up negotiations with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the host country.
"We discussed prospects to establish a technological alliance, which would help to pool in the vast personnel and research opportunities Russia and Brazil possess," President Putin went on as he called both countries' cultural activists to join hands.
"We Russians have always displayed heartfelt interest in the profoundly original Brazilian culture. This interest is by no means limited to festivals and television serials."
Closer bilateral teamwork in culture will offer fine prerequisites for economic and political partnership, too. Russia's President is sure on that point.
He called his audience's attention to a flattering opinion President Lula da Silva has of the Bolshoi Theatre's first-ever overseas school, based in Brazil.
President Putin made a general reference to Russian-Brazilian humanitarian ties to remark: "We Russians have always had great sympathy for Brazil and its people, and we are delighted to see it reciprocated."
"Russia and Brazil are making an assured progress toward strategic partnership. I hope the negotiations I had today with Brazil's President, who is my friend, will make a landmark on that road," stressed Mr. Putin.
Today's Russian-Brazilian trade turnover roughly amounts to an annual two billion US dollars, and he thinks it has every chance to double or even treble. "Two billion dollars is a mere start. I think we can quite soon enhance it two- or even three-fold," said the President.
He highlighted as essential a bilateral convention to avoid dual taxation, which was signed today. "We signed many instruments today. One of them is of tremendous importance. That is the convention," pointed out Vladimir Putin.
