Today Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participated in and delivered opening remarks at the “Brazil-U.S.: Partnership for the 21^st Century” conference, alongside Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota.

This conference takes place during Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s visit to the United States and reflects the depth and positive focus of the bilateral relationship. The Partnership for the 21^st Century conference is a joint effort to continue to grow commercial, economic, educational, and innovation ties between our two countries. The event includes panel discussions on business and trade advancements and on education and innovation cooperation, including President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas goal and President Rousseff’s Science without Borders initiatives.

Various documents and agreements were signed on the margins of the conference. These included an Aviation Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), an MOU on State and Local Cooperation, an MOU on Trilateral Cooperation on Food Security in Haiti and Honduras, an Action Plan on Science and Technology Cooperation, an MOU between Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Brazil’s Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES), and a Fulbright-Science without Borders Scholar and Distinguished Chair agreement between CAPES and the U.S.-Brazil Fulbright Commission to expand research exchanges. Other interagency agreements related to education, culture, environment, sustainable development, and trade were also signed.