Delegations from 65 countries some of them including Defense ministers were in Rio, Brazil, for the opening of the International Defense and Security Fair, (LAAD), the largest show of military equipment in Latin America.
The almost 30.000 visitors expected at the Riocentro convention center for the ninth edition of LAAD, among which 300 official delegates will be able to appreciate the latest products and systems at the stands representing 700 companies from 48 countries among which such giants as Boeing, Saab, Embraer, Rosoboronexport.
The number of stands in the four-day show is greater than in 2011 (663), following on decisions from countries such as Canada, Chile, Arab Emirates, Colombia, Slovakia and Norway to put up their own pavilions with their home representatives.
The fair was opened by Brazilian Defense minister Celso Amorim, who will also be holding meetings with his peers from Argentina, Ukraine, South Africa and Slovakia as well as the British Defense minister Andrew Murrison and Pedro Argüelles Spain’s Secretary of State for Defense.
Amorim is to take advantage of the LAAD ninth edition to have UNASUR members (Union of South American Nations) sign the Consulting Committee Project Statute with the intention of jointly developing and building a training fighter plane.
LAAD, which this year covers a show area of 60.000 sq meters, brings together every two years Brazilian and international corporations specialized in equipments, services and technologies for Armed Forces and law enforcement corps.
Brazil’s Embraer, one of the companies with the greatest display at LAAD, also has plans to present blueprints for different versions of the KC-390 heavy duty transport that can be transformed for fire fighting, air tanker and search and rescue missions.
According to the Brazilian Defense ministry, LAAD participants will have an opportunity to get in touch with state of the art technologies for military, air and space, naval, communications and information and public security operations such as armored vehicles, drones, avionics and integrated command systems for the protection of aircraft.
Amorim said that LAAD should result in a series of good agreements and projects for Brazil. Among them is the negotiation for the sale of Embraer’s Super Tucano combat aircraft to Senegal. This is the fourth African country to buy the model. The other news is the signing of the joint project for development of a basic training aircraft with the nations in the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).
“It is still a project, but is very important, as we are thus contributing to an industrial base for defense of the whole of South America. We already have many Super Tucanos operating in South America, among them other aircraft. We have joint contracts for patrol vessels with Peru and Colombia,” he said.
“This event is taking place at an important moment in which we are seeing government measures being taken in favor of Brazilian technology, like a nuclear submarine,” said the minister.
Amorim recalled that the Defense Product Law (12.598/2012), passed last week, should also contribute to the good performance at the fair, as it provides support to domestic companies that invest in technology and Brazilian products in the defense area.
LAAD is the largest fair in the sector in Latin America and, every two years, brings together Brazilian and international companies that are specialized in fostering equipment, services and technology for the Armed Forces, Police, Special Forces, as well as corporate security.
This edition promises to be the largest in size and number of commercial transactions, since its establishment in 1997.
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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s former president, came out in full support of the latest cabinet reshuffle by his successor picked by himself, Dilma Rousseff, who just fired the minister of Defense Nelson Jobim following some derogatory remarks about the cabinet chief and the head of institutional relations.
“Even if Pelé isn’t in a good day, you have to change him,” said Lula in direct reference to Jobim but immediately praised the incoming official, former Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim, who apparently has stirred some concerns in the Brazilian Armed Forces.
“I think that when people analyze the intellectual competence and statesman character of Celso Amorim, we have very few so gifted in Brazil,” said Lula underlining that the naming of a Defense minister “is not a matter of debate for the Armed Forces”.
“I believe Celso is extremely capable politically and I’m sure he will give continuity to the extraordinary job that Minister Jobim was doing in Defense,” added the former president.
He insisted that it’s no business of the military, “whether they like it or not, who is named Defense minister. Let me be clear when the President names a person, that’s it. Dilma is the supreme commander of the Armed Forces, she named the minister, period. You don’t question the decision”.
The former president said he regretted the ousting of Nelson Jobim who remained as Defense chief under the government of Dilma Rousseff on his recommendation.
“The president did the right choice; I think what happened should have not happened. I really don’t know what happened with Minister Jobim who was highly qualified for the job. But it happened. Now the ship keeps sailing. As a good union leader would say, the struggle continues,” added Lula.
He further indicated that changing three cabinet ministers in seven months of government is not a problem. Cabinet chief Antonio Palocci and Transport minister Alfredo Nascimento had to leave on corruption suspicions revealed by the Brazilian press.
“No, sometimes you could have even more changes. It seems strange when ministers are out, but when election time comes, thirty ministers walk up to you saying they want out. It’s no surprise what happened,” insisted the former president.
Jobim exit had been brewing for some time. A former Justice and minister under both Lula and previously with Fernando Cardoso, Jobim admitted having voted for the opposition candidate in 2010, José Serra and not Dilma Rousseff. He argued at the time he was a long time friend of Serra and had been best man at his marriage.
However in a magazine report he described Institutional Relations minister Ideli Salvatti as a “weakling” and accused cabinet chief Gleisi Hoffmann of not even “knowing her way around Brasília.”
Lula revealed that last Tuesday President Rousseff called on Jobim to talk about the issue and ask for explanations.
Communications minister Paulo Bernardo (and husband of Ms Hoffmann) who announced the latest reshuffle said that “as one of those strong character ‘gauchos’ from Rio Grande do Sul, maybe Jobim has a long entrenched dissatisfaction of not accepting orders from women”.
But this is the third time in the three consecutive cabinet change incidents that Lula has come out to support her successor, (whom he personally chose as presidential) candidate, in what could be interpreted as a weakness of Brazil’s president.
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US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s one-day visit to Brazil was dominated by one issue: the Iranian nuclear program. In the three meetings she had with Brazilian authorities the subject was discussed.
At the Congress, with the leaders of the two houses, Michel Temer (PMDB, São Paulo) president of the Chamber of Deputies, and José Sarney (PMDB, Amapá), president of the Senate; at Itamaraty with Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim; and with Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Speaking to the media before an Amorim-Hillary press conference, Lula adopted a flexible position with regard to the issue. “I just don’t think it is prudent to push Iran up against the wall. What I want for Iran is what I want for Brazil: the use and development of nuclear energy for peaceful ends. If Iran is in agreement with that, it can count on Brazilian support. If it wants to go beyond that, Iran will be doing something that is expressly prohibited in the Brazilian constitution. And that is something we cannot agree with,” declared Lula. The Brazilian constitution prohibits the development of nuclear arms.
At the joint press conference, standing next to Secretary Hillary, Celso Amorim declared that Brazil will not bow to pressure from the Unites States on the matter of the Iranian nuclear program. “We intend to think this out for ourselves. What we want is a world without nuclear weapons, certainly without proliferation of these arms. But we are not about to be pushed along by others. We will use our own heads and come to our own conclusions,” said the minister.
He then added that it is the position of the Brazilian government that there is a possibility of a negotiated agreement with the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “The question is what is the best way to get to that goal. Are all the chances to negotiate exhausted? We believe there is still an opportunity to reach an agreement, maybe with a little more flexibility on the part of all those concerned,” concluded Amorim.
In her comments at the press conference, standing next to Amorim, Hillary declared the Ahmadinejad government has lied about the production of nuclear weapons. She stated that Iran tells a different story about what it is doing in each different place it goes, for example, in Brazil and at the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“What we have seen is that Iran goes to Brazil, China and Turkey and in each place tells a different story in order to escape sanctions. This matter continues to be examined by the United States,” said the Secretary. “President Obama has made gestures to Iran for more than a year and there has been no reciprocal signal.”
Hillary declared that the US was willing to negotiate with Iran but that the possibilities were limited because of a lack of interest on the part of Iran.
“An effort in favor of negotiations, in good faith, by Iran will be eagerly accepted. We desire a positive diplomatic outcome and with that goal in mind will continue to discuss this issue with Brazil.”
She said that it seemed that Iran would only negotiate in good faith when pressured by sanctions to do so, without going into detail as to exactly what the sanctions would be.
“I repeat that the US prefers negotiations to sanctions. Our door is always open. But when the international community as a whole gets behind a resolution for sanctions, we believe that only then will they negotiate.”
In her visit to the Brazilian Congress and meetings with the presidents of the two legislative houses, Clinton said the United States would like help from Brazil in dealing with the nuclear proliferation, the Iranian nuclear program and the new situation in Honduras.
As for Iran, Hillary pointed out to Temer and Sarney that Russia, China, England, France and Germany are all in favor of new sanctions because they are all convinced that the recent decision by Tehran to enrich uranium to 20% is part of a plan to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies this.
Hillary warned that Iran wants nuclear weapons not only to attack Israel, but to exert political pressure over the whole Middle East and especially the Arab nations. Hillary called on Brazil to join the effort to halt the proliferation of nuclear arms, according to José Sarney.
Hillary also spoke to the leaders of the Congress about Latin America and the need to overcome the conflict in Honduras by bringing an end to its domestic problems, an effort Brazil can and hopefully will be a part of, she told Temer and Sarney.
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Brazil's Foreign minister, Celso Amorim, said this Monday, December 7, that while Zelaya has not been returned to the presidency, as Brazil wanted, the Brazilian government was able to facilitate the dialogue in that country.
"Maybe the dialogue has not produced all the results, but there was some dialogue that, maybe will allow, in the future, a reconciliation of the Honduran people and if Brazil hadn't provided shelter to President Zelaya, everything would be interrupted."
Amorim's statement was made at his arrival in Montevideo to attend Mercosur's 38th Summit.
According to the minister, Brazil is in no embarrassing situation for continuing to shelter Zelaya at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. Instead, he said, Brazil reinforced the principle of democracy on the continent with its posture.
When asked if Brazil will continue sheltering Zelaya, when his mandate officially runs out at the end of next month, Amorim changed the subject and said that perhaps the situation will be solved before then.
Amorim was also asked if there is no contradiction in defending the return of Zelaya to power under the pretense of democracy, while supporting the Cuban political regime.
According to the Foreign minister, you cannot compare the two situations. "With regard to Cuba, there was a unanimous decision of the OAS (Organization of American States), which has withdrawn the suspension to Cuba. As for Honduras, there was a coup that took place recently, while the democratic charter that Honduras signed was fully in force, a coup that we condemned with all the other countries of the OAS. "
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From Portugal where he arrived this Sunday, November 29, to take part in the Ibero-American Summit, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reiterated the position of his administration of not recognizing the results of the vote in Honduras, today, no matter the voters turnout and no matter how peaceful and transparent the polls are.
"In the case of Honduras," Lula said, "Brazil has no need to reconsider the matter. You need to take a stand on things because this serves as an alert to other adventurers. The concrete fact is that the authors of the coup didn't allow the president to come back to coordinate the electoral process, which is a very dangerous and delicate sign, because we still have many countries, most especially in Central America, with political vulnerability."
The Brazilian leader said that he had just talked to his Foreign minister, Celso Amorim, and instructed him to maintain Brazil's position of not acknowledging the results of the ballot box. Lula also informed that Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran president who has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy for a little over two months now, is welcome to continue in the Brazilian property in capital Tegucigalpa as long as he needs it.
"He may stay until the government guarantees his life," stated Lula.
Commenting on the differences among Latin countries on analyzing the Honduran elections, the Brazilian president reminded that every country is sovereign and free to take its own decision:
"I see that, sometimes, in the European Union, which is trying to build a coalition for 50 years, there are countries that approve something while others don't, and they do not see this as a division, but as a normal consequence of exercising democracy in each country," he explained.
The president suggested that politics are not done seriously and in the right way in Latin America: "I don't know if they are going to allow him back in power after the election. All of this is at least a joke, but it's part of the Latin American culture."
Lula observed that he and American president Barack Obama don't see eye to eye on the Honduran matter: "Obama sent me a letter, I answered the letter on Friday. Obviously we have disagreements over how the Honduras question was dealt with, but it's no fun if the chiefs of state don't have disagreements," he added with a smile.
Amorim, on the other hand, told this Sunday that the Brazilian government will evaluate now if it closes its embassy in Honduras or reduces the representation's diplomatic level. He guaranteed, however, that no new ambassador will be sent to that country: "There's no way for us to recognize the election. If we are going to close the embassy this will be a technical decision that we will have to study."
Dismissing the whole imbroglio, which for some has placed Brazil in a no-win, dead-end situation, Amorim affirmed that he was more interested in knowing the result of the match between the Real Madrid and the Barcelona soccer teams than the Honduras elections. "This election is not legitimate, so it doesn't matter to me."
Amorim, however, gave a hint that Brazil might make peace with Honduras although this wouldn't include opening its purse: "We will wish Honduras peace." The minister then informed that Brazil will not resume its programs to help Honduras through the ABC, the Cooperation Brazilian Agency. "This decision is clean-cut, unfortunately," he added.
Talking about the protection Brazil offered Zelaya in its embassy, Amorim told reporters he never used the term "guest" to classify Zelaya's situation. "He was there to enable the dialogue. He is there under our protection," he concluded.
Just before the start of the elections, talking from the Brazilian embassy, Zelaya declared: "Today the people will defeat the dictatorship. The United States made a mistake. … If they are democrats in their country, they should be democrats in Latin America."
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Celso Amorim, Brazil's foreign minister, is back in Tunis, the Tunisian capital, to meet with prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, and with the minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdelwahab Abdallah. This is Amorim's third visit to the Arab country.
He will also see the minister of Defense, Kamel Morjane, and with the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka.
According to information supplied by the Foreign Ministry of Brazil (Itamaraty), the foreign minister should discuss several themes in Tunis, like the special attention to the phosphate area, defense, agricultural cooperation, participation in AfDB projects, the visit of minister Abdelwahab Abdallah to Brazil and the next meeting of the mixed bilateral committee, to take place this year.
In the case of phosphates, Brazil is a great importer of the product, used in the production of fertilizers, and a client of Tunisia. North Africa is a traditional producer and exporter of the product. Vale is participating in a tender for exploration of phosphates in the Arab country.
The minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, of Brazil, Miguel Jorge, said, during a trip to Tunisia, that the tender in which Vale is participating is for a project estimated at between US$ 2 billion and US$ 2.5 billion and involves the transfer of technology to the country. According to diplomatic sources, Vale is one of the companies pre-qualified and the end result should come out up to the end of the year.
With the AfDB, which is headquartered in Tunis, Amorim should talk about the participation of Brazil in projects by the bank. There are already negotiations in progress involving the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), within the scope of South-South cooperation.
Another theme to be discussed is expansion of the bank's capital. Brazil has a framework agreement with the AfDB and is a minority partner in the institution, with an 0.47% share. According to information disclosed by the Itamaraty, this means US$ 15 million in paid-in capital. The country, however, has already contributed US$ 200 million to the AfDB, connected to the African Development Fund, connected to the bank, which has a Brazilian, connected to the Ministry of Planning, on its board of directors.
According to the Itamaraty, apart from funds, Brazil may offer its experience in public policies turned to food safety, mother's and children's health and the fight to endemic diseases, rural electrification, sanitation and other basic services.
Still in the area of cooperation, there are initiatives by Embrapa and the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture in the area of irrigation and eucalyptus farming, according to the Itamaraty.
In the defense area, there is interest in bilateral cooperation in trade missions and in the training of personnel, as well as the sale of war material from Brazil to the country in North Africa.
Last year, bilateral trade between Brazil and Tunisia reached US$ 437.6 million, being US$ 221.2 in Brazilian exports and US$ 216.4 million in Tunisian sales.
The main items shipped by Brazil were sugar, soy oil, coffee, corn, aluminum, wheat, beef, corn oil, steel laminates and tractors. The products most traded by Tunisia were phosphates, aluminum fluorides, electrical cables for vehicles, aluminum residues and synthetic tape and fiber.
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Brazil will be participating in the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus, which starts this Saturday, November 29, in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Called by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the conference follows through up to December 2nd and includes the participation of heads of state and government, as well as Foreign Ministers of over 150 countries.
The Brazilian delegation is headed by Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and includes diplomats and representatives of the Finance Ministry. Amorim is expected participate in the informal debate about the financial crisis called by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and by the emir of Qatar, sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
The Monterrey Consensus is a declaration in which countries agree to strengthen the financing of development, to comply with the Millennium Development Goals. The document was signed in 2002 during the Conference in Monterrey, Mexico.
Considered a beacon in multilateral economic diplomacy as it covers the phenomenon of development in its several dimensions, the document is divided in six chapters: Mobilization of Domestic Funds; Mobilization of Foreign Funds; Foreign Trade; Help, Financial Cooperation and Innovative Financial Mechanisms; Foreign Debt; Systemic Questions; Coherence in the Monetary, Exchange and Trade System.
According to information supplied by a spokesperson for the Itamaraty, apart from the meetings of the conference, minister Amorim should participate in bilateral interviews with emir Al-Thani; with the prime minister of Qatar, Hamad Bin Jassim; with the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmud Abbas; and with the President of the Commission of the African Union, Jean Ping.
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Disappointed with the World Trade Organization talks collapse over farm subsidies by the US and Europe, American President George W. Bush blamed Brazil and India for the failure. Brazil and India decided to withdraw from the negotiations taking place in Postdam, Germany. arguing that it was useless to keep on talking when there was no end in sight for the impasse.
According to Brazilian Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, the head of the Brazilian delegation, once again the matter of agricultural subsidies locked the negotiations: "Potsdam wasn't a success," he told reporters commenting on the meeting that should have finished on Saturday but ended up being suddenly interrupted this Thursday, June 21.
í„t the end of March, during a visit to the US, Amorim had stated that the world would become a worse place if the Doha round failed. "Brazil will survive," he said at the time, "we all will survive. But in a worse level of well-being, with impact on poverty, immigration and criminality. It's not a question of saving the world but improving it." There was still some optimism then.
Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said that president Bush was disappointed to see some countries blocking an opportunity to expand trade. "Large economies like Brazil and India should not stand in the way of progress for smaller, poor developing nations, but that appears to be what happened in Germany this week," Fratto said..
The United States offers annually US$ 20 billion in subsidies to its farmers and the Bush administration says that it will reduce subsidies only when countries like Brazil and India open their markets to services and industrialized products of American companies.
For Renato Bauman, a professor of economics at the University of Brasília, the decision by Brazil and India of abandoning the negotiations reflects the dissatisfaction of all other poorer nations with the US and Europe.
Bauman believes that other people like Bush will be condemning Brazil and India in the coming days: "There are going to be charges that the negotiations went into a dead-end and that Brazil and India should be blamed for that. The truth is that there is a huge distortion in this kind of analysis.
"The Doha round started with the goal of being the development round. Its agenda started shrinking, shrinking and now has been locked by agricultural matters. You can see that the development focus was already put under the carpet."
The WTO's Doha round started in 2001 and had the goal of liberalizing world trade in several sectors, among them agriculture, industry and services. By 2003, however, an impasse between developed and developing countries started to develop.
In 2003, in Cancún, Mexico, Brazil became the spokesperson and the leader of the developing nations for trade matters. Together with other countries in development Brazil created the G20.
The Doha round was supposed to have concluded by the end of 2004, but no agreement was reached at that time. Two years later, in July of 2006, the negotiations were abandoned.
A new effort was put forward in the last few months. But as the recent facts revealed the chasm betwen the two sides is still too wide.
]]>According to reports in São Paulo's press, Brazil's Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim reacted "harshly" to his Bolivian counterpart, David Choquehuanca, statements who conditioned the next summit to the evolvement of natural gas negotiations.
Brazil's Foreign Affairs ministry, Itamaraty, described the threat to cancel Bolivian president Evo Morales visit to Brazil as "childish and amateur", reported Folha de S. Paulo.
Over the weekend Choquehuanca said that "the final declaration from the two presidents has been drafted to great extent," but added that Morales visit to Brazil "would depend on how the different bilateral committees' workings evolve, particularly regarding the natural gas issue."
According to Folha, Amorim's reaction was harsh and said that Choquehuanca's statement "was another evidence of the amateurishness of President Morales' administration foreign policy".
"Both President Lula and Amorim feel they have been extremely patient with Bolivia," underlines Folha de S. Paulo, which normally has good contacts in Itamaraty.
A spokesperson for Itamaraty said that Bolivia so far is keeping Morales's visit to Brazil as previously agreed "and we continue to prepare for the event".
"The alleged information regarding the canceling of the visit was published in La Paz press but officially Bolivia has not mentioned a word," added the spokesperson who revealed that Lula and Morales will be signing agreements for the construction of hydroelectric dams in the common border along the Madeira River.
During the visit Lula is also expected to announce that following strong lobbying from "several of Bolivia's friends", the Interamerican Development Bank will condone US$ 1.3 billion of the country's debt with the multilateral organization.
Brazil also rejected any possibility of paying a higher price for Bolivian natural gas. Brazil is Bolivia's main client and built most of the country's gas industry infrastructure including the pipeline to the industrial hub of São Paulo.
"As far as I know there are no chances of price readjustments", said Dilma Rousseff Brazilian cabinet chief.
The natural gas price paid by Brazil is "compatible" with market conditions, she said.
Bolivia is pushing for a price increase similar to that already agreed with Argentina, that is, US$ 5 per million BTU,
Brazil's Petrobras currently is paying an average US$ 4.3 per million BTU, but the regional company Pantanal Energia from Mato Grosso do Sul, neighboring with Bolivia, US$ 1.09.
Bolivia pumps 26 million cubic meters per day of natural gas to Brazil.
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]]>According to information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Relations, this is the second donation from Brazil to Lebanon. Last year, US$ 500,000 were donated during the Conference in Stockholm.
In his address at the Paris Conference, Amorim stated that the international community must also work for democracy in Lebanon:
"If, on the one hand, the strengthening of democratic Lebanese institutions depends – as it should – on the Lebanese, the political rebuilding of the country cannot take place without the support of the international community."
According to Argentine news agency Télam, French prime minister Jacques Chirac claimed that the international community has committed to donating US$ 7.6 billion to Lebanon.
Other donators, according to the agency, include the United States (US$ 770 million), Saudi Arabia (US$ 1 billion), the United Kingdom (US$ 48 million), France (US$ 650 million) and Germany (US$ 134 million), among others. The World Bank and the European Commission have committed to donate, respectively, US$ 1 billion and US$ 519 million.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations informed that Brazil has projects for cooperating with Lebanon in the fields of agriculture, health, education, professional training and the banking sector.
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