Divulgação


Over the last five years, under the guidance of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) has worked intensely to promote the development of Brazil, with pragmatism and a long-term perspective, in harmony with the Brazilian people’s reformist and democratizing impulses.

There has been a noteworthy intensification of political dialogue, trade and cooperation with the countries of South America. Integration has advanced in the area of strategic infrastructure, including through projects such as the major highway that will link Brazil’s state of Acre to the Pacific and the trans-continental Brazil-Bolivia-Chile corridor, among others. We completed trade agreements that had been delayed for many years and which now have established, in practice, a free trade area in the region.

We created new institutions to stimulate integration, such as the South American Community of Nations, now Unasul, and the Bank of the South.

Continental Dimension

In Mercosur, we established mechanisms to deal with asymmetries, such as the Mercosur Structural Convergence Fund (FOCEM), and we installed its Parliament, which soon will have representatives elected by popular vote. With Venezuela joining as a full member, Mercosur will gain a continental reach, from the Caribbean to Patagonia. We have just signed the Mercosur-Israel Free Trade Agreement, the first of its kind with a partner outside the region. We signed trade preference agreements with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and with India, which we are working on expanding. Moreover, the negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union are advancing.

The integration of South America has been preparing the path for Latin American and Caribbean integration. We have strengthened our relations with Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Presidential visits, some of them unprecedented, have contributed to increasing trade, investments and cooperation. Latin America and the Caribbean receive 26% of total Brazilian exports. South America alone constitutes a larger market for Brazilian exports than the United States.

Democracies of the South

The deepening of relations with developing countries has led to the extraordinary expansion of our international trade. Today, developing countries purchase roughly 55% of Brazil’s exports, mostly consisting of manufactured products. We have also expanded our partnerships with China and Russia.
The creation of the IBSA (India, Brazil South Africa) Dialogue Forum brought together three major democracies of the South. With the increasing participation of segments of civil society, we have carried out trilateral cooperation projects and initiatives to benefit the poorest countries.
President Lula has visited Africa seven times, in a concrete expression of the ties of friendship and gratitude that unite us.

The first Africa-South America Summit was held. We strengthened our participation in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. Cooperation projects have multiplied. The Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) opened an office in Ghana and the Oswaldo Cruz biomedical research institution (Fiocruz) intends to do the same in Mozambique.

Few are aware of it, but Africa, taken as a whole, would be Brazil’s fourth largest trading partner, surpassed only by the United States, Argentina and China.

We hosted the first Summit between South America and Arab Countries. Brazilian exports to Arab League countries almost tripled, with an increase in investments. Our presence in discussions of peace in the Middle East is growing.

Last month, I participated in the Annapolis Conference. Brazil was one of the few developing countries outside the region to be invited to the event. In the tragic conflict in 2006, I arrived in Lebanon on the first day after the cease fire, taking along the solidarity of our people. The operation to remove three thousand Brazilians was the largest ever carried out by Brazil.

Bush and Lula

We improved our relationship with the developed world. In 2007, President Bush visited Brazil and President Lula went to Camp David three weeks later. The exchange of visits strengthened the dialogue between Brazil and the U.S. on global issues, launched our cooperation on ethanol and created the Brazil-U.S. CEOs Forum.

A Strategic Partnership was established with the European Union. President Lula was the first Brazilian Head of State to be invited to the G-8 Summits. There are already important leaders who speak of a G-11, G-12 or G-13 with Brazil participating.

At the U.N., Brazil has worked with its G-4 partners (Germany, India and Japan) and with other countries to give impetus to a broad reform, which make the U.N. Security Council more representative, effective and legitimate.

We made a decisive contribution to the creation of the Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, to which we were elected. Brazil has long called for creating such a Commission to deal multilaterally with the delicate situations in countries where conflicts recently ended, such as Guinea-Bissau, East Timor and Haiti.

Since 2004, Brazil has held the military command of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. The Brazilian forces assisted in pacifying areas that had been quite unsafe. We have gained authority to call for greater support from the international community for Haitian development.

Doha and Climate

At the WTO, we achieved historic victories in the cotton and sugar disputes vis-à-vis the U.S. and the E.U. The creation of the G-20 avoided a bad agreement in 2003, at the Cancun Conference, primarily with regard to agriculture. This generated substantial changes in the pattern of the WTO negotiations.

We put the developing countries at the core of decision-making. Today, despite frustrating delays, we are closer to achieving a fair and balanced outcome for the Doha Round.

In the climate change negotiations, we advocate compliance with the Kyoto Protocol’s targets. A few days ago, at the Bali Conference, I stated that Brazil is ready to act to reduce its emissions, in a manner that is measurable, verifiable and is open to a periodic universal review. This gave us more leverage to pressure the developed countries to comply with and accept their obligations to combat global warming.

Together with other leaders, President Lula launched the Action against Hunger and Poverty initiative. We stimulated new financing mechanisms. We participated in creating the International Facility to Purchase AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis Drugs.

Foreign policy is a component of Brazil’s national development plans. It contributes to reducing inequities, both nationally and internationally.

Our diplomacy seeks to unite the dimensions of our national interests and solidarity. Regional integration, adoption of fairer economic and trade rules and democratization of decision-making bodies are the elements that are essential to achieving a lasting peace.