Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is making her first official visit to the US for a range of talks including trade, education and foreign policy.
But the overall focus of her trip is boosting ties between the two biggest nations in the Americas – and Brazil’s international standing.
Brazil, the world’s sixth biggest economy, is only the eighth biggest trading partner of the US.
Brazil wants US support for its bid for a permanent UN Security Council seat.
President Rousseff is due to meet President Barack Obama at the White House later on Monday.
Their talks are set to focus on “fostering trade and economic ties, and in education and innovation between the two nations”, the White House said.
Ms Rousseff will also address business leaders at the US Chamber of Commerce.
“We for a long time at the US Chamber have felt that we need to have a much more bold and ambitious agenda with Brazil,” Jodi Bond, vice-president for the Americas, told reporters last week.
Dinner date
A key focus of Ms Rousseff’s visit is education, as Brazil seeks to tackle its shortage of skilled workers.
The Brazilian government has unveiled a programme to send some 100,000 students overseas to study at the world’s best universities, with about a fifth destined for US institutions.
One negative note has been what Brazilian officials saw as a snub, with Washington not rolling out the full red-carpet, state visit treatment for President Rousseff.
“There’s a feeling that most people in Washington don’t appreciate what’s happening in Brazil,” an official close to President Rousseff told Reuters.
“It didn’t have to be a state dinner but Obama could have taken her to dinner, or to the Kennedy Center.”
US officials say state visits are not usually accorded during election years.
