South Korea and Brazil have agreed to expand their bilateral trade and investment as part of efforts to boost their overall economic cooperation, officials said Wednesday.

The countries also shared the view that they and other emerging countries should keep their fiscal health strong enough to shield their economies from global slowdown, the officials added.

The agreements were made during a meeting held in Brasilia on Tuesday (local time) between South Korea’s Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan and his Brazilian counterpart Guido Mantega.

During the meeting, the finance chiefs talked about the current global economic situation, including the eurozone debt crisis and worries over the global economic slowdown, they said.

The talks are the second such since the nations’ heads of state agreed in 2008 to open a high-level consultation channel. The first finance ministerial meeting was held in South Korea in 2010.

The meeting comes as South Korea seeks to expand its economic ties with Brazil, which is fast emerging as a global economic powerhouse.

Last year, the two nation’s trade totaled $12.46 billion.

South Korea’s investment in Brazil was $1.05 billion during the same year, accounting for 53.5 percent of its total foreign direct investment in Central and South American countries, according to the ministry.

Brazil urged South Korea to deal with its fast-growing current account surplus with the South American country, saying Seoul’s surplus has grown 10-fold over the past five years.

South Korea countered that request, saying its companies are investing in Brazil in excess of the current account surplus. Both still agreed to seek mutual profit by using their supplementary industrial structures, the officials said. 

(Yonhap News)