BRASILIA (AFP) - Brazil is to buy 36 hi-tech Rafale fighter jets from France in a deal worth billions of dollars, both countries said in a joint statement.

Brazil on Monday extended a deep military relationship with France by announcing it plans to acquire 36 ultra-modern Rafale fighter jets -- along with the technology to build its own.

The public statement of intent was issued on Brazil's Independence Day in a joint declaration by visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Sweden's Gripen NG, made by defense firm Saab, and the F/A-18 Super Hornet by US company Boeing were the other two contenders in the fighter jet tender, which had been characterized by fierce and high-level lobbying.

The announcement is another blow for Saab, that just a month ago said it was "very optimistic" about its chances of winning the multi-billion-dollar tender. In May the Thai government scuttled its plans to purchase six Gripen fighter jets due to political turbulence in the country.

The imminent deal, worth an estimated four to six billion dollars, will supply Brazil's air force for the next three decades and give it the most advanced multi-role combat aircraft in Latin America.

It also adds to 10 billion dollars' worth of agreements Brazil has already struck with France to buy five submarines (one to be converted to nuclear power) and 50 military transport helicopters. Brazil's only aircraft carrier is a mothballed vessel bought from France in 2000.

Lula, who is keen to finalize the jet deal before he completes his maximum second mandate at the end of next year, has said he believes Brazil is destined to be "one of the great powers of the 21st century."

His government is determined to give Latin America's biggest nation military muscle commensurate with its swelling economic and political clout -- and its ambitions to one day win a permanent seat on a reformed UN Security Council.

It also wants the capabilities to maintain control over its two key resources: its vast Amazon rainforest, and recently discovered offshore oil fields that could make the country one of the world's top 10 oil producers.

Both Lula and Sarkozy emphasized that the relationship between their countries was not one of client and supplier, but rather partners in a multi-polar world.

In a nod to that, they said in their joint statement that France would buy around 10 military transport aircraft Brazil's air force plans to build with Embraer, the national aircraft manufacturer.

Those planes, the KC-390, are designed to carry lighter loads than the troubled and delayed Airbus A400 heavy military transport plane France is committed to.

The pending sale of the Rafale was a much-needed shot in the arm for its maker, Dassault Aviation, which has never before managed to win an export contract despite taking part in competitions for Morocco, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Netherlands.

Dassault said it should finalize the sale to Brazil in 2010.

It hopes the success will boost its chances in tenders called by India, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Libya and Greece.

The Brazil contest was characterized by fierce lobbying by the makers of the three combat jets under consideration.

Both Boeing, which had put forward its F/A-18 Super Hornet used by the US Navy and Australian air force, and Sweden's Saab, promoting its upcoming and relatively cheap Gripen NG, had insisted they, too, were willing to share technology with Brazil.

But Brazil, burnt by past US vetoes on the export of Brazilian aircraft built with some US components, and the fact the Gripen featured a US-made General Electric engine and an Italian-made combat radar, demurred.

Throughout the tender process, Brazil made it clear full technology-sharing took priority over cost.

Lula told AFP last week France's offer in that regard gave the Rafale "an exceptional comparative advantage."

Monday's statement of intent confirmed that, saying: "Given the extent of the proposed transfer of technology and the guarantees also given by the French side, President Lula has announced the decision by the Brazilian side to begin negotiations with the GIE Rafale to acquire 36 Rafale combat aircraft."

The Rafale notably features near-stealth capability and a new combat radar permitting its pilot to engage targets nearly 200 kilometers (120 miles) away.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim stressed to reporters the French deal "won't be a simple purchase because there will be (aircraft) construction in Brazil -- there will be a possibility for Brazil to sell these planes to Latin America."