Dilma’s Government Implements “Africa Agenda” to Expand Relations

Portuguese Translation of the Week

President Dilma Rousseff's government is implementing an agenda of various actions geared towards expanding Brazil's relations with Africa. These include increased trade and Brazilian investments in the continent as well as the strengthening of South-South cooperation. The goal is get rid of some of the bottlenecks encountered over the last decade of the relationship, such as difficulty in obtaining export financing and implementing development projects.

O governo da presidente Dilma Rousseff está implementando uma agenda de ações para ampliar as relações do Brasil com a África. Estão em jogo o aumento do comércio e dos investimentos brasileiros no continente e também o reforço da cooperação Sul-Sul. O objetivo é desobstruir alguns dos gargalos verificados na última década de relações, como dificuldades no acesso a financiamentos para exportação e na execução de projetos de ajuda ao desenvolvimento.

This article has been translated from Portuguese. Click here to read the original version on Estadao.

Part of the agenda is the renegotiation and restructuring of over USD$900 million in debt of 12 African countries to Brazil, announced during an official visit to Ethiopia by President Rousseff in May. Additionally, the agenda includes another two major initiatives: To carry out missions to various African countries with the objective of negotiating trade and investment deals, announced in the first week of October, and the reform of the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation (ABC), linked to the foreign ministry, for which a date still has not been set.

"The measures are aimed at enhancing relations between Brazil and the African continent on the basis of mutual cooperation and mutual development, bases which have differentiated Brazil from other countries that have relations with Africa," affirmed the Casa Civil in a letter.  The "others" refer indirectly to developed countries and China, which also increased its presence in Africa over the past decade.

The "Africa Agenda" was created by a ministerial group coordinated by the Casa Civil under the leadership of Beto Vasconcelos, the "number two" in the ministry. Called the "Africa Working Group", it was created with the goal of making a diagnosis of the relationship and offering new proposals to the President of the republic. The meetings began in the first half of 2012 and included the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Trade and Industrial Development (MDIC), and Agrarian Development (MDA).

Their work was finalized with the presentation of the Agenda to President Dilma, one week before her presidential trip to Ethiopia – where she announced some of the actions. Immediately after, the ministries responsible for implementing the actions were designated.

"Several sectors have actions in Africa. The government sought an alignment and the establishment of a national strategy", said the executive secretary of the Chamber of Commerce (CAMEX), André Alvim. According to the Casa Civil, Camex monitors the economic actions of the agenda.

Lula.

The "Africa Agenda" can change the image of President Rousseff's administration on the topic. Businessmen and diplomats alike view this as her attempt at softening ties with Africa after the boom of the Lula years.

With Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's expenditure on technical cooperation projects in African countries increased by 40 and reached a record USD$ 20.2 million in 2010. With Dilma, they decreased to USS$ 9.7 million in 2012. The same happened with Brazilian exports to Africa. They had been growing continuously since 2001, interrupted only in the post-2008 crisis. On average, the annual increase in sales to the continent was 24% from 2001 to 2011. In 2012, however, it did not increase.

"Lula helped attract the business sector to Africa. Now, the business sector is trying to attract Dilma to the continent. It was always this way, it just changed a little with Lula", said Miguel Peres, director of Odebrecht in Mozambique, in an interview conducted in May. "We stopped - made a significant halt," commented a diplomat to ABC in March.

However, Tereza Campello, minister of Social Development, argues that President Dilma did not neglect Africa. "President Lula's attitude was new. Before him, Brazil had its back turned to Africa. The need to go there, do propaganda, transmit openness, was very pressing. Today, the signal Brazil has to give off is very different," she affirmed.

Trade.

The economic part of the Africa Agenda aims at tailoring new trade agreements and investment agreements in the continent, which is the fastest growing in the world. The expectation is that African GDP grow above 5% per years in the next decade. "Africa is a new commercial frontier for the entire world. With strong growth, all countries are racing to get there, and we must be present", said Alvim, from Camex.

The debt restructuring was the first step to enable new trade to take place, given that the large debt restricted financing and investment from being made. In parallel, the review of procedures for the granting export credit offered by Brazil has started being reviewed. According to Camex, the process will become more streamlined and efficient. In addition, the credit lines from BNDES to African countries have been adjusted, according to Casa Civil.

"What we are looking for is the structuring of mechanisms that allow the requirement of having sufficient safeguards to be met, and at the same time, that the participation of Brazilian companies be economically viable", said Luiz Eduardo Melin, from BNDES. He is the head of the Africa and Latin America sector of the development bank, created by presidential decree in April. BNDES plans on opening its first Africa office, in South Africa, this year. Both measures were discussed in the Africa Group.

The missions to Africa, one of the main projects of the agenda, have already begun this month by MDIC, and they have already visited Nigeria, South Africa, Angola and Mozambique. In the last three countries, new models for investment agreements were proposed. "We have proposals with environmental and social clauses so that investments not only have an economic side, but that they also concern the country that will receive the investment. The government assumes the duty of ensuring that Brazilian investment abroad be qualified," said Daniel Godinho, secretary of Foreign Trade.

South-South Cooperation.

Besides the economic area, the Africa agenda also incorporates cooperation for the development of African countries. The idea proposed to president Dilma was to expand the budget and the personnel in the humanitarian assistance sector, provided in emergency situations and technical cooperation, which transfers Brazil's knowledge and technology. According to Casa Civil, "actions in areas that Brazil has expertise in, such as poverty alleviation, education, health, and agriculture must be prioritized."

The Africa agenda also provides for the creation of a new legal framework for the Brazilian Agency on Cooperation. Today, the agency does not have the autonomy to conduct projects without the partnership of an international body. This was announced by Rousseff in Ethiopia, and re-stated by Antonio Patriota, former Minister of Foreign Affairs. Itamaraty says that the reform of the ABC is still being analyzed.

Article translated by Anna Cardenas, Staff Intern for the Brazil Institute at the Wilson Center.

Photo attributed to IBSA via Flickr Commons.