Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, was received this morning by his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the Kremlin, where he said that the purpose of his visit is to improve bilateral relations with Russia, according to the Brazilian presidency.
“Today we had very substantial and constructive negotiations, at the end of which we approved a joint declaration, which reflects the main points for the deepening of Russian-Brazilian cooperation”, said the Russian president in Moscow .
Although Bolsonaro did not refer directly to the tensions between Russia and the United States, he said that “we are in solidarity with Russia” and proceeded to address the relations between both nations.
“Our countries are interested in the future expansion of economic cooperation,” said the head of the Kremlin after his meeting with the Brazilian president. “Brazil is Russia’s main trading partner in Latin America and the Caribbean,” he explained.
A third of Russia’s commercial exchange with that region corresponds precisely to Brazil, explained Putin. “Last year, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, trade increased by 87%”, he added.
“We have a very fruitful agenda and we see the return of bilateral trade to levels prior to the pandemic” of the coronavirus, Bolsonaro stressed.
“Brazil is a power, especially in agribusiness, and there is a lot of interest on our part in the fertilizer trade and we note the Russian interest in Brazilian plants authorized to purchase animal products ”, completed the ruler.
The intense Brazil-Russia trade relationship
There is an intense trade relationship between the two countries, with a balance clearly tilted in favor of Russia, which in 2021 exported to Brazil products worth 5,700 million dollars and that in the 60% corresponded to operations with fertilizers.
Exports from Brazil to Russia, also last year, totaled 1,590 million dollars and were mainly made up of food products.
The “deepening of the high-level dialogue”, stressed the Brazilian president, should also be extended to the areas of “deep water and hydrogen” and, on the side of the South American country, the “interest in small modular nuclear reactors” was exposed ”.
Putin mentioned that the Russian corporation Rosatom was willing to participate in the construction of nuclear power plants on Brazilian territory, including floating facilities.
Jair Bolsonaro, who began his visit by laying a floral offering at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the monument that honors the fallen soldiers during World War II, located next to the walls of the Kremlin, traveled to Russia despite the tension between Moscow and Western countries that accuse Putin of preparing an attack against Ukraine.
Russia extended the invitation at the end of November, when the tension around to Ukraine was already on the rise. Bolsonaro agreed, deciding to combine his trip with a tour of Hungary on Thursday to visit far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who also recently met with Putin.
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Before leaving for Moscow, Bolsonaro winked at Ukraine and reported that Foreign Minister Carlos França spoke by phone with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba.
Before the meeting, in a previous statement, Bolsonaro stated that his visit to Russia and the meeting with Putin was “a portrait for the world” of the growth potential “together” of both countries.
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