In a meeting in Brasília on Monday (July 14), Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff and Russia's Vladimir Putin signed a number of bilateral agreements in the areas of economy, defense, technology, energy, and pharmaceuticals. The key terms of the agreements include expanding bilateral trade to $10 billion.

In her speech, Rousseff underscored advancements in the relationship between the two countries. “Since President Putin's first visit to Brazil in 2004, bilateral trade between our countries has more than doubled. We agree that there's still much we can increase and diversify. This plan will support new initiatives to mutually expand direct investments,” she said.

According to Rousseff, Brazil is pursuing a “long-term relationship” with Russia beyond economic issues. “Our countries are among the world's biggest countries and in the 21st century they can no longer afford to be dependent in any way. The latest events show that we must seek autonomy in science and technology,” the president said, likely alluding to the US spying controversy. She went on to compliment Russia on its accession to the UN resolution on digital privacy rights.

Without specifically mentioning the Russia-Ukraine crisis over Crimea, the president advocated agreed and peaceful conflict settlement and congratulated President Putin on the country's position regarding the conflict in Syria and the Middle East.

In his speech, President Putin highlighted Brazil's role as Russia's leading trading partner in Latin America, but pointed out that bilateral trade has decreased in recent years, urging prompt dialogue to overcome the current problems.

He went on to urge discussions to advance cooperation of Brazil and other Latin American countries with the Eurasian Union, a proposed economic and political integration involving Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and other countries.

Rousseff and Putin have also signed agreements for military cooperation, inviting Brazilians to join military training in Russia using their air defense systems.

Another agreement covers technical cooperation between two Russian institutions – the Federal State Unitary Enterprise (Rosoboronexport) and the St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera – and the Butantan Institute in Brazil to develop vaccines against such diseases as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and meningitis. The agreement will also provide easier access for the Butantan Institute to sell vaccines in the Russian market.

In the area of technology, the two countries will partner to establish a calibration station for Russia's Glonass satellite navigation system (similar to GPS) at the University of Santa Maria and the Pernambuco Technology Institute (ITEP).The first calibration station in South American was created at the University of Brasília in 2013.

In oil and energy, Russia and Brazil signed a cooperation agreement to explore and produce hydrocarbons, industrial standards focused on goods and services for exploration and production of oil and gas, engineering, construction, expansion and operation of transport infrastructure, storage, processing and distribution of natural gas.