U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday after meeting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff that he is confident the two countries can improve relations damaged by revelations of American spying.
Biden is in Brazil to patch up ties strained by reports of US spying on Rousseff's personal phone and email communications, leaked last September by fugitive former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
When asked by journalists after meeting Rousseff whether US-Brazil relations could be improved, Biden said: "I am confident they can."
Rousseff cancelled a state visit to Washington last year after the spying revelations and reprimanded the US at the UN General Assembly.
Biden said he and Rousseff had a "candid" conversation about U.S. electronic surveillance.
"We discussed the common effort we have to protect and secure the Internet. That is not a tool of government repression. It is owned by the people of the world," he said.
"We also discussed U.S. surveillance programs that were disclosed last year. The issue matters a lot to people here. Frankly, it matters to people in the US as well.
"I told (Rousseff) that President Obama ordered an immediate review. We have made real changes in our process, and we are taking a new approach on this issue. Last January the U.S. announced reforms. And we will keep consulting closely with our friends and partners like Brazil."
Biden also announced the United States will release documents on Brazil's 21-year dictatorship, which began with a 1964 coup supported by Washington.
Questions linger about the U.S. role in the coup and subsequent abuses by the military regime, which are now being investigated by a National Truth Commission in Brazil.
Biden said the United States will declassify and share documents with the commission to "shed light" on the dictatorship. An initial batch was handed over Tuesday, he said.
Rousseff, a former member of a left-wing guerrilla group, was herself jailed and tortured by the military regime.
Biden said they also discussed the worsening situation in Iraq and their "common interest in seeing a stable, united, democratic Iraq."
Biden arrived in Brazil Monday, watching the U.S. team beat Ghana 2-1 in their first match of the World Cup.
He said the stadium in the northeastern city of Natal was "beautiful" and congratulated Brazil for doing an "incredible job" organizing the World Cup.
Biden will also visit Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala on a four-country Latin American tour.