Washington: The United States should focus increasingly on courting Brazil, India, Indonesia and Turkey, four “global swing states” critical to the preservation of the Western-dominated international order, according to a new report released here Tuesday by two major U.S. think tanks. With the post-World War II global order facing challenges such as the rise of China, the fiscal difficulties of Western governments, and unresolved crises over North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear programmes, these four nations, if given incentives, can play a crucial role maintaining and renewing the strength of existing international institutions, it says.
New Delhi: Former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, popularly known as “Lula,” returns to India today to receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. He has been in India twice as President in the last decade and is credited as the Brazilian most responsible for elevating the India-Brazil relationship to a qualitatively higher level. His selection for the prize in 2010, during the last year of his presidency, was a fitting gesture considering his stature in Brazil, his profile as a global statesman and in recognition of his role in bringing our two countries closer.
United Nations: When a UN member state agrees to hold an international conference in its capital, the host country is not only offered the privilege of chairing the mega meeting but also given pride of place as the keynote opening speaker. But for the last 67 years, since the inception of the United Nations, Brazil has continued to hold the number one slot on opening day of the General Assembly sessions, a position which rightly belongs to the host country, the United States, which remains the second speaker cast in stone.
United Nations: The austerity policies adopted by some Western governments are hurting both the people of those countries and residents of the developing world, Latin American leaders said at the opening of the UN General Assembly. “History has revealed that austerity, when it is exaggerated and detached from growth, is counterproductive,” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said.
Submitted by admin on Fri, 14/09/2012 - 13:38
The claim to being the 'gateway to Africa' that South Africa has consistently relied upon to attract foreign direct investment is increasingly under threat. The economic growth of our African neighbours has far outpaced that of our own. Now foreign investors are more prepared to set-up shop directly on the continent, bypassing South Africa's role as the middle man. Which is where Brazil and South Africa come face to face on the continent. Brazil's African adventures have naturally begun with Angola and Mozambique.
Sao Paulo: Brazil hopes to capitalize on the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics to advance its goal of becoming the world's third largest information technology and communications (ITC) market, a top industry official says. "We are today the fifth largest ITC market in the world, (worth) $210 billion dollars," Antonio Gil, president of the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communication Companies (Brasscom), told AFP in an interview Monday. Brasscom, which groups top domestic and foreign ITC companies operating in Brazil such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Ericcson and Lenovo, is drawing up a study with global consulting firm McKinsey on how to help Brazil vault into third place behind China and the United States by 2022.
Beijing: Sergio Amaral has had many high-powered jobs, including being Brazil's trade minister, the country's ambassador to France and Britain, its chief debt negotiator, chairman of the National Bank of Development and alternate governor to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. His public service days are over, but he is by no means relaxing, as he remains head counselor and board member of many institutions and corporations. Yet one of the jobs he devotes much time to is seldom mentioned in his biography.
Rio de Janeiro: In Mozambique, Brazil's government is opening a plant making antiretroviral drugs to fight the AIDS epidemic. Brazil is lending $150 million to Kenya to build roads and ease congestion in the capital, Nairobi. And in Angola, West Africa's rising oil power, a new security agreement seeks to expand the training of Angolan military personnel in Brazil. Brazil, which has more people of African descent than any other country outside of Africa itself, is assertively raising its profile again on the continent, building on historical ties from the time of the Portuguese empire.
Rio de Janeiro: Exports from Brazil to countries in Africa have increased five percent year-on-year, totaling US$5.53 billion in the first half of 2012. The figures mean demand from Africa now outstrips that from the Middle East, and the total is also greater than Brazilian exports to Germany and France combined, O Globo newspaper reports. Demand has risen sharply in the past decade: in 2001, Brazil's exports to Africa amounted to US$1.35 billion. In 2011, that figure was US$12 billion.
Beijing: Brazil's mounting protectionism against China could backfire as it might undermine the trade between the two BRICs nations and also dampen the latter's enthusiasm to invest in Brazil, trade experts said Thursday. "Under the current global economic slowdown, many countries are resorting to protectionism," Bai Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times.
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