São Paulo – Relations with Arab countries will be one of the Brazilian government’s foreign policy priorities during president Dilma Rousseff’s second term in office. In an interview to TV channel GloboNews shortly before the run-off elections and aired on Monday evening (27th), the special advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, Marco Aurélio Garcia, said “there is room” for Brazil’s ties with Arab countries to be furthered, as well as with Latin American countries.
“We must make our presence more consistent, for instance, in the African continent. There is still plenty of room for us to improve our relations with the Arab world. (Our relations) were progressing very well, but the so-called Arab Spring caused a bit of turmoil,” Garcia said in the interview.
The advisor to the Presidency also discussed Brazil’s ties with American countries. “It is evident that we must considerably improve our relations with our neighbours in South America, Latin America and the Caribbean, especially to empower our multilateral organizations even further,” Garcia said in a reference to the Mercosur.
During the campaign, spokespersons from Dilma Rousseff’s committee had told ANBA that if elected, the candidate would focus on dialogue and cooperation with Arab countries.
On that occasion, Rousseff’s committee said Brazil sustains strong cultural ties with the Arab countries due to the large number of immigrants it has received, and that Brazil has a tradition of seeking negotiated solutions for conflicts. The campaign’s coordinators also remarked that the country is one of the few to have diplomatic ties with all United Nations member countries. They also asserted that during an eventual second term in office, the president would focus on cooperation in energy, education, culture and social policies.
Evolution since 2003
Last year, bilateral trade between Brazil and the Arab countries amounted to US$ 25.4 billion, with a US$ 2.6 billion surplus on the Brazilian side. Brazil exported the equivalent of US$ 14.036 billion to Arab countries, down 5.2% from 2012. However, since 2003, bilateral trade between Brazil and the 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa soared from US$ 2.7 billion to US$ 14.036 billion per year.
One of the reasons for said growth is the fact that in late 2003, former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) travelled to Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Libya. Following his trip, the first edition of the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA) was held, in a bid to bring leaders and civil societies closer together.
Trade between the two regions, however, remains largely commodity-based. Brazil exports mostly poultry and beef, sugar and iron ore. For their part, the Arab countries sell oil, oil products and fertilizers to Brazil.
Mercosur free trade agreements with Palestine and Egypt are pending voting in Brazil’s National Congress. The last edition of the Aspa Summit took place in 2012 in Lima, Peru.
Affiliated with the Brazilian Workers Party (PT), president Dilma Rousseff has been re-elected for a four-year term beginning on January 1st, 2015. Rousseff defeated her opponent Aécio Neves (PSDB) in the run-off elections held last Sunday (26th). President Dilma Rousseff did not travelled to Arab countries in her first term, but her vice president Michel Temer paid visits to the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Oman.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
