Brazil and Germany will continue to support each other’s applications for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said after meeting with the newly elected Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Berlin on Monday.

Schröder made a similar declaration a year ago when he met with da Silva’s predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Schröder said the German government had great respect for the speed with which da Silva - Brazil’s first left-wing president in more than 40 years - had begun to address his country's problems.

Da Silva took office on Jan. 1 on a platform of wide-reaching political and economic reform, and a promise to end hunger in Brazil.