Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, made this Wednesday, August 31, in a hearing at the Senate in the Brazilian capital city BrasÀlia, an emphatic defense of the Brazilian external policy.
Amorim mentioned the country’s approximation with other developing countries, citing as an example the results of trade with the Arab nations.
The Minister recalled that exports to the Arab world increased by 46% between 2003 and 2004 and another 20% this year.
According to information from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, the shipments from Brazil to the Arab world yielded US$ 2.693 billion between January and July, an increase of 22.3% in comparison to the same period in 2004.
As well as the figures, Amorim mentioned examples that “reveal the importance of these relations”, such as the recent sales of busses to Qatar, during the summit for South American and Arab countries, which took place in May, and the sales of 15 Embraer aircrafts to Saudi Arabia.
“These are important things, once that the trade decisions of these countries are political decisions,” he observed.
The Foreign Relations Minister said that amongst the 31 markets to where Brazil exported the most in the last six months, the ten countries where there was greatest increase are the developing countries.
Headed by India and followed by Russia and Nigeria, the list has the names of five South American countries – four of them of the Andean Community. They are Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina.
Thailand and South Africa are the other ones in the top-ten list. “The fact is that the external policy has been looking to emphasize relations with these countries and it has had practical results,” he highlighted.
According to Amorim, with Nigeria alone, with whom Brazil maintains bilateral trade that involves oil imports, in the first semester the trade balance reached US$ 170 million.
The Minister also said that the idea that Brazil wouldn’t be giving attention to the United States in the trade matter “is totally false because never have our exports to that country grown so much.”
The statements were made during public hearing at the Foreign Relations and National Defense Committee at the Senate, when the Foreign Relations Minister made a balance of his ministry during the 32 months of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government.
ABr, Anba