Brazilian Foreign policy and IBSA

Dr. Marco Antonio Vieira, a Brazilian academician, currently Visiting Lecturer at Kings College London, visited IDSA on Monday, December 8, 2008 for a round table on "Brazilian foreign policy and IBSA." Dr. Vieira spoke on current Brazilian foreign policy trends. He opined that Brazil would like to be perceived as a responsible emerging power. Under President Lula, Brazil has focused on a policy of regional engagement. It has followed a strategy often dubbed as “policy of generosity” to win over its neighbours. As a regional power Brazil has sought to increase its influence through soft power as opposed to hard power. This is visible in its efforts towards peaceful resolution of conflicts in the region. Brazil’s relations with the United States are an important part of its strategy of regional engagement. While there has been growing co-operation between Brazil and the US particularly in the area of bio fuels, there has also been concern in Brasila over increasing US presence in Colombia as it threatens Brazil’s sovereignty over the Amazon region. Brazil has appreciated Russian’s increasing presence in Latin America. However, the recent moves by Russia to intervene in the Colombian conflict and its growing military ties with Venezuela might exacerbate regional tensions. In the multilateral arena, Brazil is investing in South-South Co-operation. The IBSA trilateral dialogue forum forms an important part of Brazil’s foreign policy. Nevertheless, at present there is lack of support for Brazil’s leadership within the region. Recognition of this trilateral cooperation at the global and regional levels will go a long way in legitimizing Brazil’s leadership role.

In the ensuing discussion the following issues were highlighted:

• In recent years India–Brazil relations have been enhanced. The trilateral IBSA partnership has helped in giving the boost to this relationship. The growing volume of bilateral trade (around $ 2.5 billion in 2007) is an indicator of this change. Both India and Brazil have a lot of similarities that have brought them together. They are emerging powers, have an agenda of reform of global governance institutions and South–South cooperation as a distinct foreign policy agenda. Further they have suffered from the problem of “gigantism” in their respective neighbourhoods.
• There was concern over emerging defence ties between Pakistan and Brazil. Particularly, the recent news of Brazil supplying anti-radar missiles to Pakistan. Such incidents negate the efforts towards building a strategic partnership with Brazil. It was suggested that Brazil should understand India’s regional security concerns and efforts should be made to speed up Indo-Brazil defence co-operation.
• Co-operation in the energy sector, given Brazil’s dominance in biofuels, was proposed.
• Concern was also expressed over the growing Chinese presence in South America. Current trade figures surpass those of China-Africa trade, another region where China has been making inroads. In particular, Brazil-China trade has tripled in recent years. But Dr. Vieira perceived that South American nations are not worried about the Chinese presence and have welcomed its interest in the region.
• Finally, it was proposed that not only a top down approach but also a bottom up approach was needed in order to augment co-operation between India and Brazil. This entailed encouraging people to people contact and supporting academic exchanges among think tanks of the two countries.

Prepared by Ruchita Beri, Research Officer at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.