MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines has signed five agreements with Brazil covering fields such as energy and agriculture, Malacañang said Thursday.

The agreements were signed during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s state visit to Brazil, where she called for deeper bilateral relations forged with “the powerful tools of diplomacy and mutual trade and investment.”

“Greater cooperation between our two countries must indeed be a priority on our agenda especially if we are to help strengthen the developing world and make globalization positive and meaningful for our people,” she said during a state luncheon hosted by Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva at the Palacio de Itamaraty.

One of the agreements signed was on bioenergy cooperation between Manila’s Department of Energy and Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy.

It intends to “facilitate technical cooperation… on the production and use of biofuels, particularly ethanol, and promote the expansion of bilateral trade and investment in biofuel,” according to a Palace press release.

There was also a memorandum of understanding for collaboration on “livestock and animal health, biofuel feedstock and development, dairy, horticulture, food safety, agribusiness management, sustainable land management, genetics and biotechnology, processing and post-harvest technologies and agricultural machineries, and plant and animal science.”

Another memorandum of understanding will cover “training, technical assistance, germplasm exchange, provision of equipment, bibliography and technology commercialization.”

Brazil is Arroyo’s final stop before flying back to Manila this weekend.

She first went to Japan for a working visit then made an unannounced stopover in Colombia before proceeding to Brazil.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde had said there was nothing “private” about the Colombia visit.

He said Arroyo had been invited by businessman Jaime Zobel de Ayala, who owns a house in that country.