Obama seeks sports business from Brazil

Over the next five-and-a-half years, Brazil will be the most-watched nation in the world.

Why? Because they will be hosting the world's top two sporting events, the 2014 World Cup of soccer and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

President Obama -- who in 2009 personally lobbied the International Olympic Committee to award the Summer Games to his hometown of Chicago -- cited the Brazilian sports activity as part of his hopes for increased economic cooperation.

"As Brazil prepares to host the World Cup and the Summer Olympics -- which still hurts for me to say -- we're ensuring that American companies can play a role in the many infrastructure projects needed for these games," Obama told reporters after meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Vana Rousseff.

Noting that the United States and Brazil are the two largest economies in the hemisphere, Obama said, "we're expanding trade and investment that create jobs in both our countries." But he added that "there's still so much more that we can do."

Obama said he and Rousseff would soon announce "a new economic and financial dialogue to promote trade," as well as expanded collaboration on science and technology." He also cited ongoing cooperation on clean energy, national security, and drug interdiction.

"I believe this is just the beginning of what our two countries can do together in the world," Obama said.

Obama echoed these messages in a meeting with Brazilian CEOs and in a speech before the U.S.-Brazilian business summit.

"The goal today is ... essentially to make sure that we work to facilitate an effective dialogue," Obama told the CEOs.

At a lunch in Obama's honor, Rousseff said Brazil's first woman president and the United States' first African-American president are opening "one more chapter of our partnership, aligning it to the realities and the challenges of the 21st century."

In reply, Obama said, "future historians will surely record Brazil's rise as one of the great achievements of our time. The United States doesn't simply welcome Brazil's rise. We want to help in any way to realize your full potential."