Brazil's President Rousseff visits U.S. with economic, environmental agenda

WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff is visiting the United States with an economic and environmental agenda as she will talk with President Barack Obama on climate change.

Rousseff's visit was originally planned for 2013, but she canceled after allegations that the National Security Agency spied on her. She arrived on Saturday and began talks on Monday with U.S. and Brazilian business executives in New York as she seeks to sell a much-needed $63 billion infrastructure project.

Rousseff is suffering from a record-low 10 percent approval rating. Brazil's economy has dwindled from a booming 7.5 percent increase in gross domestic product in 2010 to an economy expected to contract by 1.1 percent in 2015 that struck with 8.5 percent inflation.

Her visit is also seen as an attempt to mend relations between the two countries after the NSA scandal.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Rousseff via telephone before her arrival, where Biden "conveyed that President Obama's invitation was a reflection of our commitment to deliver on the enormous potential of the U.S.-Brazil partnership for the benefit of the American people and the people of Brazil."

Rousseff will travel to Washington D.C. to join Obama and Biden later Monday for a working dinner at the White House where one of the expected topics of conversation is the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, scheduled for December.

She will then be heading to the West Coast to visit Stanford University, a NASA research center and Google's headquarters.