Brasília – After meeting last week with BRICS partners in Cape Town, South Africa, the minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mauro Vieira, traveled to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, seeking to strengthen commercial and political ties with African countries.
According to International Relations researchers, the Brazilian government is aiming to re-edit the foreign policies known as South-South, to boost the relations of the countries of the “Global South,” a concept used to refer to emerging countries (most of them located in the Southern Hemisphere), as opposed to developed countries (called the “North”).
This Monday (5), the Brazilian Foreign minister met with the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiyn Ahmed. On the occasion, Vieira communicated to the African leader President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva determined relations between Brazil and Africa are expected to be a priority. He also met with other officials in Ethiopia.
On another appointment in the country, the minister met with the African Union Commission (AUC) president, Moussa Faki Mahamat (pictured above). The entity represents the 55 countries of the continent. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mahamat accepted an invitation from the Brazilian government to travel to Brazil and welcomed the Brazilian support to propose the candidacy of the African Union (AU) as a permanent member of the G20 – a group formed by the 19 world’s-biggest economies and the European Union (EU).
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 strengthening the already strong and historic partnership between Africa and Brazil on social media.”
In an interview with Agência Brasil, ambassador Joel Sampaio, head of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs press office and who is accompanying the Brazilian delegation in Africa, highlighted the purpose of the trip is to open business prospects for Brazilian companies and pave the way for the forthcoming president Lula’s trip to the continent.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
