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After the official welcome ceremony, the two Presidents first held one-on-one talks and were then joined by their delegations.

Mr Medvedev said after the talks that Russia and Brazil can achieve success in building a technological alliance, and this could happen very soon. He also announced that an agreement has been reached on encouraging reciprocal investment in the energy sector and other sectors, and noted that Brazil is already Russia’s biggest trading partner in Latin America and one of Russia’s biggest trading partners overall. The talks also examined opportunities for cooperation in the banking and financial sectors.

Mr Medvedev said it is of principle importance for Russia and Brazil to coordinate their foreign policies, including cooperation ties with other countries and the opportunities for developing relations through the BRIC group.

The President confirmed that a meeting of the BRIC leaders would take place in Russia in 2009, and invited President Lula da Silva to visit Russia at a time convenient for him, an invitation that Mr Lula da Silva was pleased to accept.

The talks concluded with the signing of a Joint Declaration. Furthermore, four agreements were signed in the presence of the two Presidents: an intergovernmental agreement on military-technical cooperation, a memorandum of understanding between the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation and the Brazilian Air Force Command, a cooperation programme for using and developing the Russian global satellite navigation system GLONASS between Russian space agency Roskosmos and the Brazilian space agency, and an intergovernmental agreement abolishing visas for short-term visits (up to 90 days) for Russian and Brazilian citizens.