PM to meet Brazilian president

David Cameron is to meet Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff as he completes a two-day tour banging the drum for British business in the South American state.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister admitted Britain had been "under-performing" in Brazil, with just 1.5% of imports compared to Germany's 6.4%.

He has set himself the goal of driving up UK trade links with the emerging economic giant - now sixth in the world GDP table - as part of his export-led strategy for nursing the battered UK economy into recovery.

He was joined by a 58-strong business delegation in Brazil and welcomed the signing of deals worth upwards of £100 million for the UK, which he said would safeguard or create 3,000 jobs in Britain.

Since coming to office in 2010, Mr Cameron has made boosting exports a key foreign policy priority. Brazil is the last of the four BRIC economies he has visited, after Russia, India and China, and he has now been to all of the G20 countries with the exception of Argentina.

With Rio de Janeiro inheriting the title of Olympic city from London, Mr Cameron is keen to ensure that the expertise gained in staging this summer's Games is put to good use in winning 2016 contracts for the UK.

On Thursday night he viewed plans for the proposed Olympic Park, which will be constructed to a masterplan drawn up by London-based Aecom, who performed a similar role for the 2012 Games.

British companies are also pursuing contracts to help stage the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil, with London's Bluecube announcing it will provide seating for the Castelao stadium in the city of Fortaleza.

Mr Cameron is fly to capital Brasilia to meet Ms Rousseff at the presidential Planalto Palace on the last leg of his trip - which also took in two days in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly and appear on the Late Show with David Letterman.

On the agenda for talks with Ms Rousseff will be Brazil's growing energy sector, which Mr Cameron believes provides an opportunity to export UK expertise and skills gained in 40 years of drilling in the North Sea.