President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: President Lula da Silva, dear Brazilian friends,
It is a great pleasure for our delegation to be here in Brazil and to hold these talks.
We began discussing current cooperation matters between Russia and Brazil over dinner. We talked about the crisis that is affecting all countries today. We talked about the difficulties it has brought, and also the new opportunities it opens for our countries and for creating a new and modern architecture for financial relations.
We talked about stepping up our cooperation in all of the different areas that you have just mentioned. Our trade relations are growing very well indeed and our bilateral trade has reached a substantial volume, though its structure could be changed. We should maintain our trade in traditional areas, but we should also work at the same time to develop our cooperation in other areas too, including energy, new areas in the agriculture market, and most importantly of all, advanced technology.
In order to develop our work in these areas, we need to sign new agreements, and some of these new agreements will be signed this very day. We need to take steps to bring the agreements we have already signed into force, including the agreement on avoiding double taxation that has already been mentioned, and we also need to work on developing new areas of interest for our countries.
Today we will settle a number of very important issues, including in the business area. This will open the road to putting more substance and speed into the contacts between our businesspeople and giving them the chance to communicate on a regular basis.
Once again, I want to say that we hope to see you make an official visit to our country next year.