Brazilian president to pay official visit to Russia

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Brazilian President Michel Temer is beginning his two-day official visit to Russia on Tuesday. During the visit, the leader of the largest South American country will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Federation Council (upper house) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko and State Duma (lower house) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. Brazil’s president is also scheduled to meet with Russian investors. The Brazilian leader will pay the first visit to Russia since he assumed office on August 31, 2016. Earlier, Temer, who served as Brazil’s Vice President, had repeatedly visited Russia and attended a session of a bilateral high-level commission for cooperation. New agreements, search for investors In an article published on June 16 in Brazil’s O Estado de S. Paulo daily, Temer unveiled the major goals of his visit to Russia. The president said a plan for Brazilian-Russian political consultations for 2018-2020 will be signed during his trip. "In Moscow, we will try to structure political dialogue and to make it more systemic," Temer said. "We will be signing a plan of bilateral consultations for the period of 2018-2020. Henceforth, we will strengthen our cooperation on the issues that both Russians and Brazilians discuss at the UN, G20, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and other international agencies." Temer plans to meet with Russian investors and convince them that "Brazil is undergoing a stage of economic modernization - the responsible use of budget funds, greater rationality and better ensuring legal security." "Under our program on attracting investments we will take into account a strong interest of Russian investors in the energy area. We will move further: we will also study the possibilities concerning enterprises of railway transport, ports and other infrastructure facilities," the Brazilian leader said. The president also noted that Brazil seeks to increase its supplies of agricultural goods to Russia. "Given the scale of economies of the two countries there is a space for further growth. We are interested in broadening access for our agriculture goods to the Russian market and diversifying our exports," Temer said. He noted that Brazil and Russia will also work on conjugating the South American MERCOSUR trading bloc and the Eurasian Economic Union. Another document that is due to be signed during the visit is the agreement on opening Brazilian cultural centers in Russia and Russian cultural centers in Brazil. The president also said that the preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will help "further rapprochement" of the two nations. Read more