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Upper house speaker to transmit Brazilian president’s proposals to Putin

This includes initiatives to expand cooperation within the framework of the BRICS, said Valentina Matviyenko

BRASILIA, January 1. /TASS/. The speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament), Valentina Matviyenko, has said that she would convey to Russian President Vladimir Putin the proposals made by Brazil’s newly-elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, including those for cooperation within the BRICS framework.

"In the wake of our conversation I will certainly report to the Russian president the proposals that were made by the president of Brazil, including those with an emphasis on the need for deeper and wider cooperation within the BRICS," said Matviyenko, the head of Russia’s delegation at Lula da Silva’s inauguration.

The newly-elected president of Brazil, as one of the founders of the BRICS, understands well the importance of such integration associations, "which have already won wide acclaim as very powerful centers of a multipolar world," she pointed out.

"In general, I would like to say that the president is in good shape and mood. He has already managed to form a government and he is set to actively interact with our country, which I was very glad to hear," she said.

Matviyenko also emphasized the importance of the fact that both Russia and Brazil "have the same vision of a future world - a multipolar and just one."

"We have vast opportunities. Cooperation and coordination of our actions both in the UN and on other international platforms have been established. I also want to stress that Brazil is a very reliable, important and well-tested partner," the FC speaker said.

Matviyenko recalled that next year would mark 195 years since the establishment of Russian-Brazilian relations, "while this year Brazil celebrated the 200th anniversary of its independence."

"This says it all. Our bilateral relations are not prone to external volatile influences. We greatly appreciate Brazil’s independent foreign policy. It does not succumb to any pressures from outside, it maintains its sovereignty and independence and defends its national interests. In this respect we are also very similar," Matviyenko concluded.