On the day that President Jair Bolsonaro arrives in Switzerland to make his international debut – to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos – the President of the Brazil Africa Institute (IBRAF), Prof. João Bosco Monte, analyzes the perspectives drawn by the new government for Brazilian foreign policy in an interview conducted by the newspaper O POVO.
For Prof. Monte, the trip to Davos confers a prominent role to President Bolsonaro, especially due to the absence of the US President, but should not compensate for the lack of definitions for foreign policy of the new government to date. “I don’t yet have the expectation that, in a month of government, the President will define, even being in Davos, where the government goes, because his office didn’t do it either. The President chose a Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ernesto Araújo, who has not yet said where the Brazilian foreign policy of the Bolsonaro government will be guided to”.
“Brazil has been losing its regional role, it has ceased to be an important player in the discussions in the regional context, in South America and Latin America”.
IBRAF’s president says that the suggestions made by the government, “that will talk to the United States, will talk to Israel, will talk to Chile, will perhaps now talk to Argentina, with the recent visit of President Macri to Brazil” are not enough to clarify a strategy. “President Donald Trump does not have for Brazil the same love that President Jair Bolsonaro expresses for the United States. If President Bolsonaro’s government prioritizes relations with the United States over a relationship with China, Mercosur or African countries this can be a big problem. The United States will not compensate for this distancing”.
For Prof. João Bosco Monte the lack of definitions could aggravate losses for the country, which has been losing the place of international protagonist in recent years. “Brazil has been losing its regional role, it has ceased to be an important player in the discussions in the regional context, in South America and Latin America, and in the African context it had a very intense space for dialogue during government of President Lula, which also has been lost in recent years. This is not responsibility of President Bolsonaro, but of those who succeeded President Lula. I think this moment we are going through now is very delicate, because we do not have any international agenda that makes Brazil the protagonist”.
The full analysis made by the President of the Brazil Africa Institute can be read ( originally in Portuguese) in the link: https://bit.ly/2RI1Qtc