Biden Says U.S. and Brazil Ready for Deeper Relationship

(Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden wound up a visit to Brazil on Friday 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 October 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....

"The atmospherics are improving rapidly, in part because Brazil has taken a lower profile on some contentious global political issues like Iran," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society, a business forum dedicated to fostering ties between the United States and Latin America.

Brazil is also beginning to understand that China and other leading emerging nations are not yet substitutes for economic ties with the United States. While the so-called BRIC countries have rapidly gained a greater share of the global economy, they still are no match for American businesses in terms of providing the investment and technology Brazil needs, Farnsworth said.

"There seems to be a growing sense that the United States may unnecessarily and gratuitously have been pushed away by the previous government, particularly as China slows and commodities markets soften," he said....

Read the full article here.