The search for an agreement with the European Union will be a priority for President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva when Brazil takes over the rotating presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc later this year, dpa reported.
A deal between the EU and Mercosur has stalled for more than 10 years, mainly due to the opposition of French farmers.
Lula said Wednesday that he would try and make the French more flexible to an agreement. He was speaking at the end of the fourth summit between Brazil and the EU, in Brasilia.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy attended Wednesday's summit.
"French farmers have a national policy, and we have to respect that. This is a deal between nations, which has to benefit the whole of the population, and those sectors that are disadvantaged by it have to receive some sort of compensation," Lula said.
Barroso said the deal was very important for the EU, which he described as the largest investor in the South American bloc. He noted that the EU invests in Mercosur more than in India, China and Russia combined.