Australia keen to boost trade with South America

"We want to raise awareness of the region" in Australia, Graeme Barty, the Australian Trade Commission's regional director for the Americas, told representatives of Australian mining and banking companies in Sao Paulo late on Monday.

He added that "we're very conscious of the interest India and China are showing to the region," and saw great opportunities in also developing ties.

Australia's ambassador to Brazil, Neil Mules, said that the ascension of the G20 grouping of the world's major developed and developing nations because of the crisis had helped strengthen a bond between commodity-producers Australia and Brazil.

"We're like soul mates in the G20. We're both well placed" to come out of the crisis ahead of worse-hit Western nations, he said.

The Australian consul-general for Sao Paulo, Greg Wallis, noted that bilateral Australian-Brazilian trade jumped 58 per cent last year, making two-way commerce between the countries bigger than with France, Germany or Italy.

Mining, bovine genetics and education services topped the fields of activity Australia was developing in the South American region.

The head of the National Australia Bank's newly established Brazilian operations, Luiz Henrique Campiglia, also told AFP the bank would start offering corporate lending in Brazil within months.

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