Arriving in Brasilia early Thursday, Hollande was accompanied by a delegation of French business representatives. He and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff inked a raft of deals in areas including education, science and technology and defense.
"We must increase our trade and economic ties. Despite the crisis, our trade exchange never stopped growing and even doubled in 10 years," Hollande said.
"We have big ambitions, Brazil and France, to again double our trade in the coming years."
The two countries have historically had good relations. France is the sixth-largest foreign investor in Brazil, while Brazil is France’s top trading partner in Latin America.
Data from Brazil’s Trade Ministry shows that trade between the two countries reached $8.5 billion during the first 10 months of 2013 with France enjoying a $2.5 billion surplus.
"We also discussed the strategic and promising investment scenario between Brazil and France. In particular, I emphasize the participation of Total in the consortium led by Petrobras to explore the Libra subsalt field," said Hollande.
In October, rights to explore Brazil’s vast subsalt field Libra were auctioned in Rio de Janeiro. Only one bid was received, at the minimum amount required, from a consortium made up of Petrobras, Total, Shell, and two state-controlled Chinese oil firms, CNOOC and China National Petroleum Corp.
Estimates by Brazil’s fuel regulatory agency, the ANP, put Libra’s reserves of between 8 and 12 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
Rousseff said that she had reiterated to Hollande Brazil’s satisfaction with the R$7.8 billion ProSub program, under which France is supplying Brazil with four conventional submarines and helping to develop a nuclear submarine – Brazil’s first – to help protect the country's coastline and vast oil reserves.
As of Friday no agreement had been announced regarding a potential multi-billion-dollar fighter-jet contract between the two countries.
Brazil is seeking to upgrade its air force, and France’s Dassault Aviation’s Rafale fighter is vying with Boeing’s Super Hornet from the US and Saab’s Gripen, from Sweden, for the lucrative contract.
The deal was likely to have been discussed in private meetings between the two leaders, with France hoping that Brazil’s currently frosty relations with the US would give a welcome boost to its chances.
Alluding to this, President Dilma Rousseff thanked Hollande for France’s support for Brazil’s draft resolution Internet privacy rights submitted to the United Nations, drawn up following revelations of spying by the US National Security Agency.
"The president and I also talked about another partnership, we want to be partners in building a more just, equitable and democratic world order. I appreciate the support of France for the successful Brazilian initiative at the UN on the right to privacy in the digital age," said President Rousseff.
By Lucy Jordan
englishnews@aa.com.tr
