PORLAMAR (Venezuela), Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Saturday that trade between African and South American countries has grown rapidly in recent years as a result of cooperation driven by the Africa-South American summit for the development of peoples.

Speaking at the summit, Lula said that six years ago, trade relations between the two regions were calculated at 6,000 million dollars, but after the first Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria, in November 2006, bilateral commercial exchanges have passed 36,000 million dollars, which shows a process of strengthening the economic sovereignty.

Lula said this would be possible without the substantial progress in Africa, and urged members of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to learn from Africa to consolidate the same results in their region.

He noted that this meeting is the perfect setting to take a further step in building a partnership between two continents determined to build a bridge for dialogue and collaboration, reduce distances, bringing peoples and consolidate strategy for development and peace.

"That was the bold vision that brought together Africa and South America for the first time in Abuja in 2006, and it is with great pride and optimism as I see the concrete results that we are harvesting," he said.

The second Africa-South America summit opened Saturday in Porlamar, the main town on the island of Margarita, Venezuela, with participation of over 20 heads of state and government.

Under the theme "Closing the gap, opening up opportunities", the summit is aimed at boosting the cooperation of the participant countries, facing the food, financial, economic and environmental crisis, and strengthening agreements and plans of action started in 2006 at the first Summit, held in Abuja, Nigeria.