Brazil and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to expand cooperation in oil, mining, infrastructure and science, the Brazilian foreign ministry said Sunday. The agreement also aims to increase bilateral trade, according to a statement posted on the web site of the Brazilian ministry. Brazil and the Kingdom also signed a general agreement on cooperation in presence of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Saturday evening. The agreement was signed by Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim. Lula da Silva hailed his country's growing relations with Saudi Arabia and the Middle East as he pushed for more trade and investment in the region. On the landmark first visit by a Brazilian leader to Saudi Arabia, Lula told Saudi and Brazilian businessmen stronger economic ties would leave both nations less vulnerable to the kind of turmoil now besetting leading global economies. “I am here because we need to find new partners,” he said at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce. “We have to diversify our trade.” Two business tie-ups were signed Sunday – the first on petrochemicals cooperation between Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras and the Saudi firm Modern Chemicals. The second was a joint venture to produce human insulin for the Gulf region, which suffers a high rate of diabetes, between Brazilian biotech firm Biomm and the Saudi Gabas group. Lula said trade between the Latin American country and the Kingdom had shot up 450 percent in the past six years. Abdurahman Al-Jeraisy, the chamber's chairman, said it reached $13 billion (9.6 billion euros) last year. Lula singled out Riyadh's six-year, $400 billion capital investment program as an opportunity for Brazilian business. “Saudi Arabia has a great infrastructure program and certainly Brazil would like to participate,” he said. He added that his country could become a “strategic partner” for Saudi Arabia in its search for farm investment opportunities abroad to develop greater food security. “We have high expectations to receive Saudi investment in agribusiness.”
