Sándor Fazekas holds talks with his Brazilian counterpart Jorge Alberto Mendes Ribeiro Filho, Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

The main topic of discussion was the development of Hungarian-Brazilian agricultural research and commerce cooperation opportunities, including joint research projects within the fields of biotechnology and aquaculture, as well as the June Rio+20 conference. The main objectives of the conference, to be held in June, are the increasing of the ratio of renewable energy sources, and the development of energy efficiency.

>Hungarian-Brazilian bilateral relations have become more active in recent years; several high-level government meetings have taken place. The countries of Latin America can no longer be circumvented when it comes to handling the global challenges facing the whole of humanity, and so Hungary is building a stronger relationship with the region. At the Hungarian – Latin American Forum held in Budapest on March 26, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that soon a travelling ambassador would once again begin activities in five countries of the Andean region.

Agricultural foreign trade between the two countries is minimal, but imports exceed exports, meaning that our foreign trade balance with Brazil has been negative for years now. In 2011, Brazil mainly exported cane and beet sugar (13.2 million US Dollars), tobacco (12.3 million US Dollars), coffee extract (9.5 million US Dollars) and frozen poultry meat (941 thousand US Dollars) to Hungary. We export dried vegetables and wine made from fresh grapes to Latin America.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)