The Outcomes of Obama’s Visit

Although President Obama’s recent visit to Brazil was during a period of global uncertainties and instabilities, it promises to be an important step in the Brazil-U.S. relationship.

The new relationship presents three challenges to be faced and overcome in order to develop a pragmatic and positive connection between the two countries. The first is how to link common interests. The second is how to modify Washington’s perceptions of Brazil. And the third is to identify what our country wants from its relationship with the United States.

A period of tension was generated by ideological anti-American demonstrations and by disagreements in foreign and commercial policy, which lasted for a large duration of Lula’s government. The governments of Brasilia and Washington have decided to start a new phase in their bilateral relationships, leaving behind the difficulties of the previous years.

Obama’s visit was focused on economics and commerce. It emphasized the new global importance of Brazil in the areas of the environment, trade and energy, with its establishment of global partnerships and significant agreements. Brazil has not yet emerged in the political arena because of the perception that Brazil is still considered a reluctant partner-country, despite its intention of becoming a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

The joint communiqué, signed by the two countries and released at the end of the visit, introduces a plan for a new global and bilateral partnership and not a strategic alliance that presupposes a slow development between them.

The president, Dilma Rousseff, observed that in the past, the relationship often led to an empty rhetoric, therefore evading what was really important. This visit was marked by a pragmatic and not an ideological vision, creating results even though they are still in the stage of goals.

It is important to highlight that the presidents decided to elevate their level of dialogue regarding global partnerships in areas such as the economy, finance and energy. Ten agreements were signed to explore new possibilities for cooperation in the areas of trade, education, innovation, infrastructure, aerial transportation, space, large sporting events and biofuel for aviation.

From these 10 documents, four deserve special attention:

1. The Bilateral Framework Agreement: This consists of the cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space and the announcement of the beginning of negotiations for the agreement to protect vehicle-launching technology.

2. The Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement: Its primary goal is to facilitate the access of products from the United States and Brazil in the trade market of the two countries. It also creates tools to evaluate the difficulties in trade and investment areas, to assess plant-health barriers, to simplify customs procedures and to harmonize technical standards.

3. The agreement of cooperation in Third World countries — mainly Africa — in the areas of education, food security, agriculture, nutrition, health and institutional strengthening.

4. The agreement regarding biofuels for aviation.

In the Dilma-Obama meetings, the presidents discussed the foundations for how the two countries’ relationship will evolve and the way the relationship will benefit the government and private sector in the years to come. The world does not stop changing. Partnerships were mentioned in areas that, if successful, will make a change in the quality of the bilateral relationship, with concrete gains for both sides.

The challenge of connecting the interests of both countries that were alluded to in previous meetings started to be addressed in this visit. Here are some examples. The North American government is interested in becoming an important client of the petroleum produced in the pre-salt region, and the Brazilian government could restart its space program, rebuilding the Alcantra base in collaboration with U.S. companies. Large infrastructure projects attracting North American companies’ investments could help Brazil make the deadlines for the construction of the World Cup and Olympic Games facilities. The Pentagon, the largest aviation kerosene buyer in the world, seeks energy security with the production of biofuels for aviation, which will lead to great opportunities for the Brazilian private sector.

According to what was implied in the communiqué issued at the end of Obama’s visit, the approach of the visit was different from that of the previous administration regarding Brazilian foreign policy. Ideological restrictions disappeared, and opportunities for partnership with the United States were highlighted, including in the area of outer space with technology safeguards. The Brazilian contribution to peace in the Middle East and other regions will not be given with voluntarism. Iran has to show that its nuclear programs are entirely peaceful in nature. The respect of human rights and democracy has to be maintained, even in the context of movements and democratic transitions — for example, in Libya. The commitment to the Organization of American States was emphasized, and the efforts undertaken to make it more transparent and efficient were hailed. The Unasur and the Mercosur were mentioned in the last chapter of the communiqué. References of this nature would hardly be seen in a joint communiqué between Brazil and the United States in the past five or six years.

The decisions made during Obama’s visit to Brazil somehow bring back the tone and spirit of the discussions that occurred in June 2003. That was when President Lula made his first visit to Washington to seek common-interest projects and changes in the way the United States perceived Brazil, which differentiated our country from the rest of Latin America.