Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Friday he expected the annual trade turnover between Russia and Brazil to double in the next few years reaching $10 billion.

In the period 2004-2008, annual turnover reached $6.8 billion. In 2009 it declined to $4.6 billion due to the global economic downturn.

"Our economies have come out of the crisis stronger. Because of this, I am sure we can increase trade turnover to $10 billion in the near future," he said at a business forum in Moscow.

"A qualitative leap is needed for the development of our relations: we should increase the share of high added value goods in trade turnover and eliminate all the barriers," he said.

A concrete example for economic exchange could be the proposed participation of Russian companies in projects to build hydroelectric and thermal power stations in Brazil and the possible production of Embraer ERJ-145 regional airliners in Russia.

Another important topic discussed was the future use of national currencies in reciprocal payments, a Kremlin source said. This will eliminate the use of US dollars and the need for foreign financial institution, making the international trade autonomous from possible external disturbances regarding the unstable global financial system.

The Brazilian president is paying his fourth visit to Russia. In mid-April he met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the Brazilian capital at the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) summit of emerging economies. Brazil is one of Russia's key partners in Latin America and the BRIC group.

Russia and Brazil are also negotiating a deal for the delivery of unspecified air defense systems to the Latin American country, a Russian government official said on Friday.

"We are considering any system in general terms," said Mikhail Dmitriyev, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.

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