Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has started a five nation tour of Africa aimed at boosting trade ties.
He arrived in Cameroon and during the next five days will go on to visit Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea Bissau and Senegal.
This is the fourth visit to Africa by Brazil's president, known as Lula.
The trip is an indication of the importance the Brazilians are placing on expanding trade ties with other developing countries.
He is travelling with a large, mostly trade-oriented delegation.
Cheap medicines
The Brazilian president will also be talking about how to speed up the transfer of technology for African countries to produce their own medicines to combat Aids.
In Brazil the government provides free treatment for those infected with the Aids virus, and produces generic versions of almost all the medicines it needs.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) report earlier this year said that targets were lagging for making Aids drugs available in much of Africa, including Nigeria, which the Brazilians say will be the most important stop in Lula's tour.
Some 4m people are estimated to be infected with the Aids virus in Nigeria which is just starting to produce some of its own generic medicines.
The country is also Brazil's most important trading partner in Africa and the main Brazilian hope for expanding exports to the region.
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