OREANDA-NEWS. In the course of Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer's formal visit to Russia, the 3d Business Forum "Brazil-Russia: Strategic Lines of Cooperation" took place in Moscow on September 15, 2015. The Forum was organized by the Brazilian Embassy in Moscow and the Business Council Russia-Brazil set up under Vnesheconombank.

In his welcoming address to the Forum's participants Chairman of the Business Council Russia-Brazil, Vnesheconombank Deputy Chairman - Member of the Board Sergei Vasiliev said that qualitative changes in the Russian-Brazilian relations had taken place recently: we are moving from cooperation in trade to cooperation in investments, education and healthcare.

In his welcoming address first Russian Economic Development Deputy Minister Alexei Likhachev said that such a great interest of Russian and Brazilian companies in enhancing bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation makes us optimistic and creates conditions for expanding trade and economic relations between the two countries. There is no doubt that Brazil is Russia's strategic and foreign economic partner not only in Latin America but also on a global scale.

In the course of the Forum the leadership of the State of Parana and Russian companies signed the following memorandums of intent and cooperation:
* A Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation between the State of Parana and public joint stock company Irkut Corporation. The parties agreed to promote sales of MS-21 aircraft and intend to create an aviation cluster in the city of Maringa and set up a local production facility to manufacture components of aircraft.

* A Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation between the State of Parana and Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute (MIFI). The subject matter is technological cooperation in nuclear medicine and high technologies. The parties intend to create a joint engineering center in order to develop and promote technologies in such sectors as medicine, telecommunications, information technologies and dual-purpose technologies. The parties also agreed to cooperate in training personnel for state companies of the State of Prana.

Speaking at the closing of the Forum, Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer said that Brazil was interested in Russian investments in infrastructure projects in the country: motorways, railways, ports. The Vice President also said that Brazil was also interested in developing scientific and technical cooperation with Moscow. Talking about sharing of experience between Brazil and Russia, Temer mentioned successful projects in agriculture especially devoted to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in this sector.

In the course of the Forum, round-table discussions were held on the following themes: Agriculture, Innovative Technologies and Pharmaceutics, Infrastructure and Power Engineering.

In the attendance of the Forum were Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, Brazilian Ambassador Antonio Guerreiro, President of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency Apex-Brazil David Barioni as well as representatives of Brazilian and Russian business. The Forum was attended by more than 400 participans.