Dilma Rousseff is in London for the opening of the Olympics. She has visited Prime-Minister David Cameron in his official residence. Before taking part on the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium, tomorrow, she will attend a reception offered by Queen Elizabeth II, at Buckingham Palace.

The games should receive leaders from 110 countries in the next 17 days. As Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics, Cameron also believes that Brazil offers a positive outlook to British businesses. A “Brazilian Conference” meeting was scheduled by the British government for 10 August.

Dilma Rousseff has been getting attention as the first woman to be President of Brazil, and Brazilians in London are taking advantage of the opportunities that such limelight produces.

The new Brazilian Embassy was recently opened at Cockspur St, near Trafalgar Square. Dilma will visit the Natural History Museum, meeting Prof. Stephen Hawking, from the University of Cambridge.

Dilma is promoting Science Without Borders, the programme that will take 100,000 Brazilian researchers to study abroad in 4 years. She will also, as part of her visit, sign a deal with the UK about the participation of its universities in the programme.

Somerset House, which receives the Brazilian Olympic Committee during the London games, has organised an exhibition called Casa Brasil. It will go from 12 September and will feature contemporary art and design of more than 30 Brazilian participants. The curator is Brazilian Rafael Cardoso and the graphic project is by Daniela Thomas and Felipe Tassara. There will also be a Brazilian Film Festival.

Somerset House is between The Strand and the River Thames, near Waterloo Bridge. Originally, it was a Tudor Mansion built by the Somerset Duke. The original construction, from 1775, was torn down for the construction of the first office building built with this purpose in London.

Somerset House is a big neoclassic construction in Palladium style. It has a gorgeous central yard and wide terraces that bring view from the Thames. It is right beside King’s College, which is part of University of London and holds the new King’s Brazil Institute, run by 'brazilianist' Anthony Pereira, a professor educated in Britain and in Harvard, who was until recently teaching at University of Tulane.

Not a bad moment at all for Brazil in the UK.

Writes Kenneth Maxwell for Folha de S. Paulo editorial