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Dakar - Like China, Brazil is looking to expand trade with the African continent and on Tuesday the Brazilian export agency Apex opened a two-day forum on economic cooperation in the Senegalese capital Dakar.
"We want to develop the cooperation between Brazil and sub-saharan Africa and share our experiences and knowledge," Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Miguel Jorge said at the opening of the forum.
Possible areas of cooperation, according to the minister, could include biofuels.
As the world's biggest exporter of ethanol, and its second-biggest producer, after the United States, Brazil is a staunch advocate of biofuels.
A switch to biofuel crops in Africa could "diversity agricultural production" and help west African countries "escape the oil tyranny".
Senegal's newly appointed Minister of International Cooperation Karim Wade said the forum provided a meeting place for "the vast emerging markets in Latin America and Africa with its mineral wealth and abundant human resources".
According to Brazilian government figures, trade between Brazil and Africa quadrupled between 2003 and 2008 from $6.11bn to $26bn.
Trade with sub-saharan Africa was up 310% going from $2.3bn to $9.5bn in the same period.
- Sapa-AFP