Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi met his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday in Brasilia as he completed his tour of BRICS nations, dpa reported. Morsi's first visit to Brazil, which is to last two days, came a day after a cabinet reshuffle in Egypt that saw five key economic portfolios change hands. The Egyptian leader has already visited Russia, India, China and South Africa, and is considering the possibility of Egypt joining the bloc of increasingly influential emerging economies. Morsi aims to increase trade with Brazil, the world's sixth-largest economy. He is also seeking to lure investment to Egypt, and is interested in Brazil's programmes to fight poverty and hunger, which have been praised globally for lifting millions into the middle class in recent years. The Egyptian government is negotiating a 4.8-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund. Foreign reserves have plummeted since 2011, partially because of attempts to prop up the value of the Egyptian pound. Brazilian officials said companies there have expressed an interest in investing in infrastructure, energy and transport in Egypt. Morsi was expected to discuss with Rousseff ties between the two countries "in the wake of the political and economic reform process in Egypt," the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said ahead of the meeting. Later Wednesday, he was to visit Congress and the Brazilian state Company for Farming Research (Embrapa), which seeks to improve farming production and supports similar initiatives in other nations. Morsi was scheduled to travel Thursday to the economic powerhouse of Sao Paulo for meetings with business leaders and representatives of the Brazilian-Arab community.
