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Brazil's President Rousseff meets with Obama: 5 topics for talks

As the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere, Brazil and the US have a lot of shared interests, but there are still areas of contention. Here are 5 possible topics on today's presidential agenda:

Education exchange and innovation

  • By Whitney Eulich Staff writer

Brazil and the US have created educational exchange programs to strengthen economic and cultural bonds between the two countries.

“We have a very strong university and research system in Brazil,” said Dr. Glaucius Oliva, president of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development in Brazil. “[B]ut we need to have more interaction and more cooperation with equivalent institutions abroad,” he told the Americas Society last month.

This week Rousseff will meet with Brazilian undergraduate students studying science, math, engineering, and technology at US institutions through Brazil’s “Science without Borders” program.

The Science without Borders program aims to send 100,000 students abroad on one-year scholarships, and the pilot program took place exclusively in the United States last August, said Dr. Oliva. Some 75 percent of the program is funded by the Brazilian government, while Brazil’s private sector, including companies like oil giant Petrobras, makes up for the remaining 25 percent. Part of the program's aim is to counter what some see as an introspective focus on national politics in Brazil.

“[Brazil] tends to focus on things internal rather than things external,” Mr. Spektor said.

Obama launched a similar program while visiting Brasilia last year, which aims to send 100,000 US students to study in Latin America by 2020, according to Carola McGiffert, director of what has been named the “100,000 Strong Initiative.”  

Both programs aim to foster cooperation between research institutions in the home country and abroad, so that when students return to continue their studies or work at home,  they will have concrete ties to leaders in their industry abroad.

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Mark Sappenfield
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