EMBASSY ROW
Bilateral ties and two-way cooperation were the main themes of Brazilian Ambassador to Mexico Enio Cordeiro’s national day speech, when he and his wife Silvânia Barros Cordeiro marked the 194th anniversary of their country’s independence with a lavish evening reception at the Plaza Carso Soumaya Museum.
“It is a privilege to represent my country in Mexico at a time that is so productive in terms of our binational relationship,” Cordeiro said at the start of the event.
“It is a time when both of our governments have launched multiple initiatives with a political determination and vision of broadening the strategic relevancy of the bilateral friendship.”
Cordeiro went on to note that, in addition to a presidential visit to Mexico by then-Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in May 2015, in the last 12 months there have been a series of high-level exchanges between the two countries.
“Mexico is an important partner for Brazil, not only because of the deep and important two-way relationship, but also because both countries are key pillars in regional integration and both share an interest in the international agenda,” he said.
“Mexico and Brazil are defenders of multilateralism and believe in a greater democratization of international institutions. Both countries are members of the G-20, support the reform of international financial institutions and promote efforts to create more equitable rules for global commerce.”
Cordeiro also said that both Mexico and Brazil share a common responsibility to promote peace and prosperity throughout Latin America and the Caribbean through economic development and democratic stability.
“Consequently, the strengthening of our relations is a major factor in generating confidence and balance in regional integration, and also how we are perceived by other countries and other parts of the world,” he said.
Notwithstanding, Cordeiro said that there is still a lack of mutual understanding between Mexicans and Brazilians, which has led to misperceptions and biases.
He said that the only way to successfully overcome this problem is to encourage greater cultural and informational exchange.
“It is a job that requires an ongoing effort to strengthen political dialogue and broaden our economic relations and cooperation.” Cordeiro said.
“Brazil and Mexico are the two largest economies in Latin America, and together, they represent 65 percent of the GDP of the region.”
He pointed out that, in 2015, combined bilateral trade amounted to $8 billion, and accumulated Mexican investment in Brazil reached $30 billion.
Brazil, meanwhile, has more than 650 companies with a capital presence in Mexico in a variety of industries that span from chemicals and automobiles to soft drinks and steel, as well as the energy, construction and communications sectors.
“Last year, our two countries started an ambitious negotiation process to increase and broaden an agreement on bilateral complementary economics,” Cordeiro said.
“This broader agreement will include chapters on services, investment, government purchases, intellectual properties, the facilitation of trade and sanitary measures.”
He also underscored the growing cooperation between the Mercosur trade group and the countries of the Pacific Alliance bloc, with which Brazil exchanged $22 billion in goods and services in 2015.
Cordeiro said that Brazil has recently signed free-trade agreements with Chile, Peru and Colombia that encompass services, investment and state purchases.
“We are ready to sign a similar broad free-trade agreement with Mexico,” he added.
Cordeiro said that it had been a great honor for Brazil to host the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics this summer, which came on the heels of an entire decade of major sporting events in that country.
He said that the international naysayers who had predicted that the Brazilian Olympics would be a failure because of crime or the Zika virus had been proven wrong.
“Brazil has undergone some difficult moments in its economy and internal political life,” he said, without making any specific reference to last month’s impeachment of Rousseff, and the subsequent political turmoil.
“Those challenges resulted in a contraction of economic activity, a high level of inflation, increased unemployment and a unbalancing of public accounts, leading to a strain on our internal public debt and a drop in investment.”
But Cordeiro said that Brazil is not alone in confronting these difficulties, since nearly all the world’s economies are currently showing less growth and vitality.
The ambassador said that the Brazilian people have recently developed a renewed faith in their economy.
“And we are proud of the fact that in the last decade no less than 40 million Brazilians have been raised out of poverty to find a more dignified way of life,” he said.
“We believe we are a great and generous nation, and that we are capable of overcoming difficulties through the ingenuity, valor and participation of all of our citizens.”
Cordeiro said that Brazil is expected to register a $50 billion trade surplus in 2016, and while foreign investment is down, internal investment has remained steady at $80 billion annually.
He said that Brazil has international reserves of over $380 billion.
“Brazil is and always will be one of the largest economies in the world, and everything seems to indicate that our economic activity will soon start to grow again, albeit initially as a moderate pace,” Cordeiro said.
“We Brazilians believe in the solid nature of our institutions and their capabilities to sanction improprieties. And we also believe in our own ability to power through difficulties through peaceful and democratic processes.”
Cordeiro said that Brazilians are intolerant of injustices and impunities, and that in this time of transition, they are willing to take their leaders to task and demand real political reform.
“The Brazilian people do not lack the determination to ensure full respect for the moral principles of our great country,” he said.
“At the end of the process, which is still underway, we will become an even better nation.”
Brazil gained its independence in 1822, when the Portuguese king Dom João VI returned to Europe after having moved his seat of government to Rio de Janeiro 14 years earlier to escape Napoleon’s army.
The independence proclamation was made by Dom João’s own son, Pedro, who immediately proceeded to have himself crowned emperor of the new country.
However, the second emperor, Dom Pedro II, was deposed in 1889 and a republic was declared under the name of the United States of Brazil.
THE NEWS
