BRASILIA,(Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden wound up a visit to Brazil yesterday saying it was high time the two largest economies in the Americas became closer partners in trade, investment and energy.
“We’re ready for a deeper, broader relationship across the board on everything from the military to education, trade and investment,” Biden told reporters after meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
The White House announced on Wednesday that Rousseff will make a state visit to Washington on Oct. 23, the only one that President Barack Obama is offering a foreign head of state this year, indicating the importance his administration is placing on closer ties with Latin America’s largest nation.
Biden praised Brazil for recently writing off $900 million in African debt, saying it showed the emergence of Brazil as a “responsible” nation on the world stage.
During his three-day visit, Biden also commended Brazil for lifting millions of people from poverty over the last decade and showing the world that development and democracy are not incompatible. However, he also urged Brazil to open its economy more to foreign bushiness and to be more vocal in defense of democracy and free-market values.
Relations between Washington and Brasilia have improved since Rousseff took office in 2011 and adopted a less ideological foreign policy than her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who befriended Iran and drew Brazil closer to Venezuela’s anti-U.S. government under the late Hugo Chavez.
As the Brazilian economy surged on a commodity boom in the last decade, China displaced the United States as Brazil’s largest trading partner due to its massive purchases of Brazilian iron ore and soy.