1st EU–Brazil summit  The first summit meeting between the European Union (EU) and Brazil took place in Lisbon on 4 July 2007. At the summit, Brazil was granted special partnership status with the EU. This summit took place in Lisbon, at the Pavilhão Atlântico. The dinner was offered by the Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva, at Belém Cultural Center. The summit aimed to establish closer relations between the European Union and Brazil. Portugal formally invited its former colony, Brazil, to be a strategic partner of the EU, along with India, Russia and China, meaning that all the BRIC countries now had special partnership status. Issues concerned with a proposed trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur group of South American countries including Brazil were also discussed. Associated with the summit, the oil and energy corporations Galp Energia of Portugal and Petrobras of Brazil signed an agreement on production of vegetable oils in Brazil.