MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, while on a visit to Brazil, found this country to be very similar to Russia.
"I believe that we are to a great extent natural partners. […] As one of your leaders very accurately said, Brazil is a tropical Russia," Medvedev said in an interview Brazilian television channel Globo.
He said both countries have a "big, complex history, complex multiethnic and confessional composition, huge area, where there are different living conditions and range of challenges that are actually very similar - two large developing markets."
Asked whether Russia is prepared to give Brazilian businesses access to Russian defense technologies and training methods, Medvedev proposed Brazilian entrepreneurs form joint ventures with Russian partners.
"We will fully develop our cooperation in any area, including in military and technical cooperation. We are prepared to also share technologies, but this must be a mutually beneficial process. There is no sense in giving away technology and losing money - this is also probably not right. But if this is a joint venture that brings benefits to both Russia and Brazil, if as a result of the joint use of technology together we earn some money, well then this is alright," Medvedev said.
"Come and work on the Russian market. We'll be happy to have you, because we have a big market, like you have a big market. And we need to not only supply some products to one another - we supply fertilize to you, and you, for example, supply beef and pork to us - we need to find new forms of cooperation, invest in one another," Medvedev said.
"Brazil is a very large agricultural power and Russia is a very large agricultural power. In principle, we can live without one another, in fact we can feed other countries. But we, for example, are very interested in your technologies related to livestock farming, because it is at a very high level here. Why not create enterprises in Russia that would belong to both Brazilian businessmen and Russian businessmen, enterprises for processing, to use new technologies in livestock or crop farming? This will bring in profits for both you and us, and at the same time this is a higher level of cooperation," Medvedev said.