Ukraine, Brazil agree to expand economic ties

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara and his Brazilian counterpart Antonio Patriota agreed on Wednesday to further promote economic and trade ties between their countries. \"Ukraine and Brazil are optimistic about the development of bilateral relations in trade and economic sphere. We believe that there is a great potential for their enrichment,\" Kozhara said. Ukraine is willing to work with Brazil to build strong trade ties with a focus on cooperation in energy, high-tech, aerospace and pharmaceutical spheres, Kozhara said. For his part, Patriota said that Brazil considers Ukraine as an important trading partner. \"Our trade ties are developing smoothly and we hope to boost them,\" he said. Bilateral trade jumped from about 398 million U.S. dollars in 2009 to more than 1 billion dollars in