JAMAICA and Brazil Thursday signed agreements that would allow for academic co-operation between the two countries and the exemption of visas for diplomats and officials, at the end of a two-day working visit of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio ‘Lula’ da Silva.

Under the academic agreement, diplomats, officials, students and researchers will be able to go to Brazil for training in international relations, among other subject areas.

“I am pleased to announce that Jamaica offered 10 scholarships to Brazilian nationals, over a two-year period, for training in hospitality skills at the HEART/Trust NTA,” Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said.

The heads also hammered out agreements in several areas, including agriculture and sport, in which Brazil will donate new varieties of high yield sugar cane to Jamaica, while Jamaica offered technical and coaching assistance in track and field.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian Government has offered land space in the country’s capital for a Jamaican embassy, on the basis that Jamaica also provides land in Kingston.

The Kingston land would, however, not necessarily be used for an embassy, according to head of bilateral relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Courtenay Rattray. Rattray said Jamaica was “moving in (the) direction” of accepting Brazil’s offer, but no specifics had been identified yet. Rattray also said that Jamaica was considering establishing a mission in Brazil in the near future.