Brazil supports Vietnam’s presencein G-20 meetings as the chair of the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN).

Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Celso Amorim made thestatement while hosting visiting Vietnam’s Deputy Minister ofForeign Affairs Pham Binh Minh on May 10.

At the meeting, Amorim congratulated Vietnam on great achievementsthe country made in its development process and on its increasingprestige and position in the international arena.

Amorim affirmed that Vietnam and Brazil had favourableconditions to increase cooperative relations in all fields, especiallyin trade and investment, to meet the two peoples’ aspirations andinterests.

During the visit to Brazil starting from May 9, Minh met with hiscounterpart Roberto Jaguaribe and Deputy Minister of IndustryDevelopment and Foreign Trade Ivan Ramalho and Chairman of theBrazil-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce Rui Barreto.

At these meetings, the two sides informed each other of the situationin each country and agreed that bilateral ties have made strides in allfields over the past years and agreed to accelerate preparations for thesecond session of the joint committee in Hanoi in 2011 and completenegotiations to sign new cooperation agreements (first and foremost is aframework agreement on technical cooperation and other cooperationagreements on agriculture and education).

Also, Brazil side said that they would send a delegation ofgovernment officials and leading entrepreneurs to Vietnam in thesecond half of this year in a bid to establish a partnership relationand tap long-term business and investment opportunities in Vietnam .

In spite of suffering from negative impacts of the global economic andfinancial crisis, two-way trade between the two countries stillmaintained a high growth, reaching over 564 million USD last year. Thefigure is expected to top 1 billion USD in the next few years./.