President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met out-going Brazilian Ambassador to Vietnam Joao de Mendonca Lima Neto in Hanoi on Feb. 8.

At the reception, Sang said that Vietnam attaches importance to the role and position of Brazil as the largest Latin American economy.

He said that the ambassador has made contributions to raising bilateral ties, making Brazil Vietnam’s leading trade partner in Latin America , with two-way trade reaching 1.5 billion USD in 2011.

Receiving the Brazilian Ambassador, PM Dung affirmed that Vietnam will try its best to further expand cooperation with Brazil , making bilateral ties practical and effective for common development of both countries.

He praised the Ambassador for his contributions to boosting relations between Vietnam and Brazil during his term of office.

Ambassador Joao de Mendonca Lima Neto expressed his impression at Vietnam ’s achievements in socio-economic development. He said that the two countries’ potential for cooperation is great.

Besides cooperation in trade and investment, the two countries need to boost ties in education, culture, science and technology and tourism, he said.

On the same day, PM Dung received Chairman of the US ’ Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) Fred Hochberg. He said he is pleased with positive developments in the Vietnam-US cooperation, especially in economics and investment, adding that the US is now one of Vietnam ’s largest trade partners.

He valued Eximbank’s effective aid for some projects in Vietnam over the past time and expressed wish to receive continued cooperation and support from the bank.

Applauding the US decision to choose Vietnam as one of the nine recipients of Eximbank aid, the Government leader affirmed that Vietnam will create favourable conditions for the bank’s cooperation activities in the country.

Fred Hochberg said his visit aims to boost Eximbank’s cooperation and aid activities for Vietnamese projects, especially those in energy and infrastructure.

He spoke highly of Vietnam ’s dynamic development and potential and expressed his belief that Eximbank’s cooperation agreement during the visit will be implemented soon./.