Russia wants to make Brazil its key partner among BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries.
President Dmitry Medvedev is to hold talks with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva today. Moscow is actively working to turn Brazil, a member of BRIC, into its new Latin American outpost and to have the country move away from excessive reliance on Venezuela. However, both sides have not yet closed any large new deals. Six general documents, rather than contracts, will be signed in the Kremlin.
Another BRIC member
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who arrived in Moscow yesterday will meet with Dmitry Medvedev today. And this will be followed by talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the paper that both men will briefly discuss general issues. Accordingly, the main talks will be held in the Kremlin.
Ambassador Maria Edileuza Fontenele Reis, head of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry's European department, said that the talks would prioritise investment, scientific and technological cooperation and space exploration. Of course, they will discuss the regional situations, as well as the reform of the global financial system and the UN Security Council, she added. The Brazilian delegation will obviously prioritise the latter issue. "Brazil is actively striving to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council and requires Russia's support in this pursuit. Moscow is ready to provide such support," said Boris Martynov, deputy director at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Latin American Studies.
Both presidents must save their energy for working on the bilateral documents. A source in the Brazilian delegation told the paper that only six documents were ready for signing. Key documents include an action plan to expand strategic Russian-Brazilian partnership, a programme for scientific and technological cooperation for 2010-2012 and a plan for consultations between foreign ministries. Two even more specific documents, namely, a treaty on the protection of intellectual property obtained as a result of bilateral military-technical cooperation and a cooperation agreement in the sphere of international information-and-communications security. And, finally, the presidents will sign a joint declaration on the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.
"The number and scale of documents signed should not confuse anyone. We would like to fill our bilateral relations of strategic partnership with real content," a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "Since the early 1990s, Brazil has been and remains our main Latin American partner in terms of bilateral trade. But Moscow, which focused on political relations with Venezuela, was not so enthusiastic about Brazil. However, Russia now realises the significance of well-balanced interests," Martynov explained.
Indeed, Russia's return to Latin America after August 2008 primarily implied stronger ties with Caracas and its allies, such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia. The recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two break-away provinces of Georgia, was almost the only criterion of friendship. In exchange, Moscow might lavish generous bonuses on its partners. President da Silva, who was reluctant to sour relations with the United States over trivial issues, was not expected to make such a move.
At that time, Moscow decided to use Brazil in another major project aiming to turn BRIC into a real centre of power. Until 2008, this acronym coined by Goldman Sachs' Chief Global Economist Jim O'Neill to lure investors into emerging markets remained an abstraction. In 2009, the Russian city of Yekaterinburg hosted the first BRIC summit on Moscow's initiative. The second summit was held in Brasilia a month ago. Brazil realised that it would take some effort to give BRIC real content, Martynov said. In this situation, Russia began to prioritise bilateral cooperation. "No matter how interesting and close Venezuela may seem, Brazil is still the major country in the region. Despite all its enthusiasm, Caracas is simply unable to accomplish some objectives and will hardly rank among the major global players in the 21st century. As for Brazil, it will be such a player. Moreover, Russia and Brazil, which are both giant countries abounding in natural resources, face numerous common problems that bring us closer together," Martynov explained.
A partner for the president
Brazil and its leader have the potential to become suitable partners for Russia as a whole and for President Medvedev in particular. Until now, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, the unofficial curator of Russia's Latin American policy, prioritised Venezuela and its allies, primarily Cuba and Nicaragua. Since his appointment in 2008, Sechin has repeatedly visited these countries. In November 2008, Sechin paid his only visit to Brazil while accompanying President Medvedev on his Latin American tour. In its relations with these countries, Russia has prioritised weapons contracts and energy projects.
In both of these areas Russian-Brazilian cooperation has still only yielded modest results. In 2008, Moscow and Brasilia signed a contract for the delivery of Mil Mi-35 Hind E helicopters to Brazil. A source in the Brazilian Foreign Ministry told the paper, "The first helicopters have arrived. We are interested in military-technical cooperation with Russia, primarily in terms of technology transfers. But new contracts have not been prepared yet." And Martynov said, "Brazil wants to modernise its armed forces, especially in the context of defending its interests on the continental shelf. But we should be more active because our U.S. and Chinese competitors are not idly sitting by."
Brazil is hardly interested in cooperation in the oil sector and plans to boost the production and export of hydrocarbons in the next few years. The country is engaged with foreign partners in the exploration of oil and gas fields, the main ones being located on the continental shelf. The discovery of a huge new deposit containing 4.5 billion barrels of oil was announced yesterday. However, offshore operations will require capital and particular technology. And unlike their Western partners and Brazil's multinational energy company Petrobras, Russian oil companies possess neither.
The Russian energy sector is not carrying out any specific projects in Brazil either. Although the Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation, the regulatory body of the Russian nuclear sector, and Brazil's National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) have signed a memorandum of cooperation, they lack specific projects. Rosatom wanted to build several small nuclear power plants, yet the project is still under discussion, and no documents will be signed during the current visit, a source in the Brazilian delegation told the paper. The same concerns the hydropower industry. In February 2010, Inter RAO UES, a Russian energy company engaged in power generation and electricity trading, announced its intention to supply equipment for the San Antonio hydropower plant. A source in the company said no project documents had been drafted and that a discussion was currently underway.
Moscow will obviously have somewhat different priorities in its relationship with Brasilia. For instance, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Programme for the Effective Use of Foreign Policy Factors for Long-Term National Development, drafted on Medvedev's orders, sets the creation of a Russian-Brazilian technological alliance as the main objective of bilateral cooperation. (Editor's note: The text of this document was posted on the Russian Newsweek website this week). Under the document, Russia should market its software on the Brazilian market, establish the Digital City technology park in Brasilia, expand trade in high-tech products and services and establish ties between research centres. All of this entails advanced technology and innovations, which is Medvedev's favourite subject.
Analysts believe that Brazil is only interested in a limited range of Russian technology. Martynov said that cooperation in the field of space exploration, including Brazil's involvement in the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) programme, satellite launches and the creation of space centres, was the most promising area. "Vast undeveloped tracts of Brazilian territory in the delta of the Amazon River can only be controlled by being monitored from space satellites," he added.
Russia and Brazil still face problems in other spheres. "We need to improve our export pattern and increase the share of machinery and high-tech products," Martynov said. In late 2009, fertiliser accounted for 85% of Russian exports to Brazil, while machinery and equipment made up for 2.7%. Mutual trade fell from $6.7 billion in 2008 to $4.6 billion throughout the crisis-ridden period of 2009. Brazil chalked up a $1.5 billion foreign-trade surplus. Food products and agricultural produce account for 94% of Brazilian exports to Russia.
At the same time, Russia is unable to boost the export of value-added products to Brazil considerably. "They are actively exporting machinery and aircraft and are doing this far more successfully than we are. Brazil is hardly interested in Soviet-era technology," Martynov told the paper. In 2009, Russia assembled 14 civilian aircraft and Brazil assembled 244. Moreover, Brazilian products are now replacing Russian products on some markets. Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said top Polish officials would stop using Soviet and Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154 airliners in favour of Brazil's Embraer-175 planes. On April 10, 2010, Polish President Lech Kazcynski and a massive national delegation were killed when their Tu-154 crashed near Smolensk, Russia.
Alexander Gabuyev
