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ASSOCIATED PRESS
RIO DE JANEIRO: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is praising Brazil's emergence as a global power, urging the nation to become more engaged in security efforts in places like Africa to increase international security around the world.
In remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday, Panetta says the U.S. and Brazil are at a critical point in their history and a stronger partnership could be a force for peace.
But even as he sketched out efforts to improve intelligence sharing, conduct combined military exercises and joint research, Panetta pushed back against Brazilian criticism of the U.S. He urged Brazil to buy American-made aircraft.
Panetta was speaking at Brazil's Superior War College as part of a weeklong South America trip that includes Colombia and Chile.