Brazil is to buy 36 Rafale fighter planes made by French firm Dassault, Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Nicolas Sarkozy of France said in a joint statement Monday, according to dpa. The deal is reportedly worth around 4 billion dollars, but the exact costs were not made public. Negotiations with Sweden for the Gripen plane, made by Saab, and with the United States for Boeing's F18 ended unsuccessfully, Brazil said. The French bid was preferred because it was the only one that allowed for technology transfer to Brazil. Brazilian Defence Minister Nelson Jobim had stressed that this point was vital, since it would allow Brazil to build its own fighter planes in the future. Lula and Sarkozy were also to finalize Monday in Brasilia another multi-billion-dollar deal for the purchase by the South American giant of four conventional submarines made by France, and for the joint development of a nuclear-powered submarine. Sarkozy took part in celebrations to mark the anniversary of Brazil's independence on September 7, 1822.
