October 27, 2003	Monday	Sha’aban 30, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: Pakistan and Brazil will open a dialogue here on Monday after a span of almost two decades with the additional secretary-level talks at the foreign ministry.

Mr Edmundo Fujita, head of Asia and Oceana at the Brazilian foreign office, arrived here on Sunday to hold consultations with his Pakistani counterpart Mr Saeed Khalid, additional secretary, Americas and Europe.

Pakistan and Brazil have not had any system of consultations in the recent years. The last high-level contact the two countries had was when the Brazilian foreign minister visited Pakistan in the Eighties.

Officials here said the visit would provide an opportunity to step up bilateral ties and exchange views on the United Nations, regional situation including Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan-India relations.

“It is an important visit for us to project our viewpoint to a country as important as Brazil, and we hope it will pave the way for increasing volume of trade between the two countries,” a senior official told Dawn.

According to the 2002 figures, Brazil’s exports to Pakistan were worth $18 million and Pakistan’s exports to Brazil were worth $7 million.

With the election of Brazil to the UNSC for a two-year term, Pakistan also sees an opportunity to cooperate with it in multilateral forum, officials said. Brazil will be assuming membership of the council in January 2004.