At the close of an eight-day trip to Africa, the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, made yesterday, January 19, a positive evaluation of the contacts made during his meetings.
The last stop on his tour was Dakar, Senegal, from which he embarked on his way back to Brazil, after visiting Cape Verde, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and Cameroons.
In the Chancellor’s view, the trip was positive as much in the political sphere as in economic and cultural affairs.
Amorim considered significant the comments he heard about Brazil in the countries he visited.
“I regard it as normal that Brazil, which, if it gains a seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council, will obviously be representing Latin America, is a country that will pay special attention to African problems, as it always has, from a non-paternalistic perspective, but rather with the intention of cooperating without seeking immediate advantages in return,” the Minister said in an interview with Radiobrás, the Brazilian state radio.
The Minister denied, however, that the purpose of the trip was to negotiate the support of African countries on behalf of Brazil’s candidacy for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and the candidacy of Brazilian Ambassador Luiz Felipe Seixas Correa as director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The election for the WTO post is expected to be held by mid-year.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva should travel to the African continent again this year.
Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil
