Brazil supports Vietnam’s presence in G-20 meetings as the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

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

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

Amorim affirmed that Vietnam and Brazil had favourable conditions to increase cooperative relations in all fields, especially in trade and investment, to meet the two peoples’ aspirations and interests.

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

At these meetings, the two sides informed each other of the situation in each country and agreed that bilateral ties have made strides in all fields over the past years and agreed to accelerate preparations for the second session of the joint committee in Hanoi in 2011 and complete negotiations to sign new cooperation agreements (first and foremost is a framework agreement on technical cooperation and other cooperation agreements on agriculture and education).

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

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