São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce is going to promote this evening (13), at the Syrian Sports Club, in São Paulo, a dinner in honour of the Foreign Minister of Brazil, Celso Amorim, for his work in the fostering of relations between Brazil and the Arab countries. Amorim was the Brazilian foreign minister that travelled most to the Middle East and North Africa and has constant diplomatic contact with both regions.
Amorim is the main articulator of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s foreign policy, marked by the intensification of relations with other developing countries – the so-called South-South cooperation – and for the promotion of Brazil as a heavyweight player in the international scenery.
In this respect, in recent years, Brazilian diplomacy granted special emphasis to closer ties with Africans and the Middle East and to integration of South America. This Brazilian offensive took place in several areas, but the government usually mentions the expansion of trade as a way to prove its efficiency.
In the case of the Arabs, trade relations rose from US$ 4.9 billion in 2003, the first year in office of president Lula, to over US$ 20 billion in 2008, with a reduction to US$ 14.6 billion in 2009, due to the international financial crisis. In the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade has already exceeded US$ 10 billion. The figures were supplied by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
In the wake of this policy, there have been several diplomatic meetings, visits by heads of state and other authorities, trade missions and business activity. In the private area, most of the actions were organized in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber. Among the events that took place, special attention is given to the Summits of South American-Arab Countries (Aspas), in 2005 and 2009, Brazilian brainchildren.
Multilateralism
Brazil has also been seeking greater presence in international forums, like the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the UN Security Council, as well as greater cohesion in South America through the establishment of the Union of South American Nations (Unasul). Amorim strongly defends multilateralism.
In the commercial and financial areas, the country has managed to influence international decisions, as is the case with the formation of the G-20, a group of developing nations that joined forces in the defence of common interests during the WTO’s Doha Rounds, and in the growth of the other G-20, the financial one, that brings together the 20 largest economies of the world -, bringing it to the position of a great forum for decision making regarding international finances in the post-crisis world.
In the political area, Brazil has started operating in a more incisive way in matters like the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and in the search for a diplomatic solution to the question of the nuclear program of Iran. Brazil and Turkey have even managed to convince the government of Iran to sign an agreement on the matter, but that was not enough to halt the Security Council’s adoption of new sanctions against the country.
Internally, the foreign policy of the government of Brazil is not unanimous. Those against it say that Brazil is seeking ties with other emerging nations and is leaving ties with traditional partners, like the United States and the European Union in the sidelines. The government says that it has opened a new front without forgetting the other and that market diversification reduces dependence on few partners.
But, even those who disagree with the foreign policy agree that Amorim is a top-end diplomat. The fact is that he is currently present in almost all international discussions.
The ambassador
Celso Amorim was born in Santos, on the coast of the state of São Paulo, in 1942. He is a career worker at the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), having graduated from the Rio Branco Institute, the Brazilian diplomatic academy, in 1965. He is married and has four children.
Amorim is one of the only remaining members of the original Lula cabinet. Apart from him, only ministers Luiz Dulci (secretary general of the Presidency), Jorge Armando Félix (head of the Institutional Security Cabinet) and Henrique Meirelles (governor of the Central Bank) remain in the same post in the government.
This is the second time that he is the Foreign Minister of Brazil, the first having been from 1993 to 1994, in the government of president Itamar Franco.
With a long diplomatic career, Amorim has already occupied several posts in Brazil and abroad. He was, for example, the Brazilian representative at the UN and WTO, in Geneva, the UN representative in New York, the secretary general at the Itamaraty and the Brazilian ambassador to London.
Amorim recently became a member of the Worker’s Party, the same as president Lula’s, but he should not run for any elective post in the coming October elections.
*Translated by Mark Ament
