By: CHRIS GRAEME
THE EUROPEAN Union’s external trade and political relations with the world’s fifth largest economy, Brazil, was top of the agenda at the EU-Brazil Summit in Lisbon.
An agreement was reached whereby Brazil will now join other emerging economic giants China, Russia and India as an EU Strategic Economic Partner.
Talks
Both Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates and Portuguese EU Commissioner Manuel José Durão Barroso welcomed Brazilian President Ignácio Lula da Silva to a day of round table talks on matters as divergent as climate change, renewable bio mass, combustion energy, the role of the Latin American Common Market, or Mercosul (Mercosud), and the Ronda de Doha Accords on the Liberalisation of World Markets.
The objective of the summit was to set the stage for a new strategic partnership with Brazil and the other Mercosul countries (Argentina, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay), which together represent a market worth 2.42 trillion US dollars and 263 million people.
However, cynics say that Portugal’s organisation of the event is a last ditch attempt to persuade Brazil not to abandon her one-time important economic alliance with Portugal in favour of using Madrid as an economic springboard into the European Union for Brazilian goods.
In the past decade, Brazil has developed a growing socio-economic image and set of policies, particularly in the fields of renewable and sustainable energy as well as climate change.
Brazil is also promoting Latin American regional integration and political stability with neighbouring countries through Mercosul and other treaties and accords.
For its part Brazil is anxious to be on good terms with the European Union and its huge market for the country’s goods, both raw materials and finished products, because it is the only so-called New Emerging Economy, or BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), which does not have an institutionalised Strategic Economic Partnership with the EU.
Brazil wants to do this before other emerging economies such as India and China steal the show since each of the BRIC countries will be holding talks at the highest diplomatic and governmental levels with the EU.
Apart from EU-Brazil relations, the summit also focused on other more general issues such as multilateralism, climate change, energy, fighting poverty, social exclusion, relations with Africa and EU-Mercosul relations.
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