The United States defence secretary, William Cohen, has said the danger of an arms race in Latin America is extremely unlikely, because of growing cooperation and improving relations between nations in the region.

Mr Cohen was speaking in Brazil, at the end of a tour which also took him to Chile and Argentina.

Mr Cohen, who discussed the possible sale of US fighter jets to theChilean armed forces, said Latin American countries were capable of defending their intersts without an arms race.

It was Mr Cohen's first visit to Latin America since Washington lifted a twenty-year embargo on arms sales to the region last year.