After meeting, last week, with partners from the Brics in Cape Town, South Africa, the minister of foreign affairs of Brazil, Mauro Vieira, traveled to Addis Adeba, capital of Ethiopia, in an effort by the Brazilian government to strengthen commercial and political ties with African countries. The Brics is an organization of emerging market countries formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa For international relations researchers interviewed by Agência Brasil, the Brazilian government seeks to re-edit the foreign policy known as South-South, with the objective of expanding the relations of the countries of the Global South, a concept used to refer to the most emerging countries (generally concentrated in the Southern Hemisphere), as opposed to rich countries (generally in the North). Mauro Vieira and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali – Abiy Ahmed Ali/Twitter The Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met, this Monday (5), with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiyn Ahmed. On the occasion, Vieira communicated to the African leadership that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva determined that relations between Brazil and Africa should be a priority. The chancellor also met with the Ethiopian deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Demeke Mekonnen Hassen, when they discussed strengthening relations in areas such as trade, agriculture, environment and sports. According to the Itamaraty, Mauro Vieira informed the African authority about the interest of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer in establishing business with the company Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa, with around 110 million inhabitants. The nation has stood out for its high growth rates (a 6% increase in GDP in 2022). The capital Addis Adeba is today the main airport connection point between Brazil and Africa. On another agenda in the country, the chancellor met with the president of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat. The entity represents the 55 countries of the continent. According to Itamaraty, Mahamat accepted an invitation from the Brazilian government to go to Brazil and welcomed Brazil’s initiative to propose the candidacy of the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 – a group formed by the 19 largest economies in the world plus the European Union. Mahamat also expressed interest in resuming the South America-Africa Summits as an instrument of integration between the continents. On social media, he highlighted the importance of “reviving and reinforcing the already strong and historic partnership between Africa and Brazil in participating, and South America and Africa in general”. Minister Mauro Viera in a meeting with the president of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat – Moussa Faki Mahamat/ Twitter In an interview with Agência Brasil, ambassador Joel Sampaio, head of the Itamaraty press office and who is accompanying the Brazilian delegation in Africa, highlighted that the purpose of the trip is to open up business possibilities for Brazilian companies and prepare the way for President Lula’s future trip to the continent. “It’s a continent with a lot of vitality, there’s a lot of room to advance in terms of economic collaboration and commercial exchanges. We already have a tradition of cooperation with them in agriculture, forestry, health. This is what the minister here is working on so that, when there is an opportunity for a presidential visit, some things are already ripe to be consecrated”, informed the Brazilian ambassador. South-South Cooperation For the co-founder of the Center for Studies and Articulation of South-South Cooperation, researcher Luara Lopes, the agendas of Itamaraty authorities and President Lula himself indicate the resumption of the foreign policy known as South-South, which marked the first two governments of President Lula. For the researcher, one of the objectives is to diversify commercial and political partnerships, serve as an intermediary between the North and the South and lead the international agenda on behalf of the Global South in the most diverse spheres. Luara Lopes believes that this is a pragmatic stance by the Brazilian government. “Brazil manages to circulate between several countries and is not trapped in certain partnerships. This circulation brings pragmatic benefits, whether in terms of trade, increased investment, or in terms of achieving the goals of change in the international system – the issue of UN reform is one of those goals.” The reform of Itamaraty’s organization chart, which raised the institutional status of areas dedicated to relations with Africa and Latin America – from departments to secretariats – reinforces this tendency to prioritize South-South relations, as highlighted by Marina Bolfarine Caixeta, postdoctoral researcher -doc at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG) and the University of Brasília in the field of international relations. For the specialist, in addition to trade issues, prioritizing South-South relations reinforces the search for the identity of the Global South in international politics. “This is a strategy to increasingly project the power of these countries around various agendas of international governance, bringing the idea of a reform of the UN system, strengthening multilateralism against US hegemony, which is a very typical speech from the south. global”.
Agência Brasil
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