Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo reiterated the country’s commitment to strengthen relations with the African continent. This week, when he met an agenda in four West African countries, he reaffirmed that Africa “is a priority” for Brazil. The sentence has similar content to the speech given by the Vice President of Brazil, Hamilton Mourão, during the opening of the Brazil Africa 2019 Forum and also to what was said by the Brazilian Ambassador to Senegal, Flávio Lima Rocha, in an interview with ATLANTICO.
According to Agência Brasil, the diplomat wants a new vision of Brazil’s relationship with Africa and also establishes a new structure of trade and investments in the African continent. “We are showing the true dimension of our policy,” he said.
Security Agenda on South Atlantic
Ernesto Araújo met with leaders from Cape Verde, Senegal, Nigeria and Angola. With all of them, the diplomat discussed the implementation of agreements in the areas of security, defense, trade, and investment. “Brazil, in recent governments, has relegated this vector of Brazilian diplomacy, which is the security of the South Atlantic. The idea is to reactivate this cooperation,” said Ambassador Kenneth Nóbrega, Itamaraty’s Secretary of Bilateral Negotiations for the Middle East, Europe and Africa
Brazil exported US $ 408.4 million to Angola between January and November 2019. Imports totaled US $ 140.5 million in the same period.
Accompanied by representatives of leading Brazilian defense companies, he participated in showcases in Luanda and Abuja.
On Thursday (12), the Brazilian chancellor signed in Luanda, with Angolan Foreign Minister Manuel Domingos Augusto, the Security and Internal Order Agreement, a document joining the two countries’ efforts to combat organized crime, terrorism and drug trafficking.
Nigeria: More transport and UN change
Last Tuesday (10), Chancellor Ernesto Araújo met in Abuja with Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama. He then met with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the chairman of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (Cedeao), Jean-Claude Kassi Brou. Between 2014 and 2018, the Senegalese economy was the third fastest-growing among West African economies (at an annual average of 6.5%) and the sixth across the continent.
On the agenda of the meetings, the potentials of agricultural cooperation were discussed. The Brazilian chancellor emphasized the need for more transport links between the two countries as a means of generating “more business and more ideas”. Araújo and Onyeama also talked about possible reform of the United Nations (UN) and the system of international organizations.
A meeting of the Brazil-Nigeria Strategic Partnership is scheduled for March in Abuja, with the vice-presidents of both countries attending.
Jair Bolsonaro invitations
On Monday (9), the Brazilian chancellor delivered an invitation letter from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to Senegal’s President Macky Sall, inviting him to visit Brazil in 2020. Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço also received a similar invitation on Thursday (12).
President Jair Bolsonaro is due to make his first trip to the African continent in March 2020, as Vice President Hamilton Mourão announced during his opening speech at the Brazil Africa 2019 Forum.