An endless row of portraits of Brazilian Ambassadors to Britain tell the visitor to the Embassy one thing: Britain and Brazil go way back.
“It’s a very historical relationship,” says Ambassador Carlos Augusts R Santos-Neves, the latest ambassador in the illustrious line, whose previous ambassadorial postings include Russia, Canada and Mexico.
The Ambassador predicts a “busy and intense” posting in London, “but fortunately we agree with each other on many issues,” he adds.
For one thing, Britain is a staunch supporter of Brazil as an emerging power in a number of international fora.
“At the UN the UK has for a long time defended and proposed that Brazil together with India and Japan and Germany become a permanent member of the Security Council,” he says.
At the recent G8 meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the organisation to expand to a G12 or G13, to include Brazil and other emerging powers.
At the recent Doha trade talks, out of all the EU countries, Britain’s position on liberalising agricultural trade is the closest to Brazil’s.
There is just one impediment, he says. Britain has to negotiate from within the EU. “The position of the UK would not be what it is if it were acting alone. But that’s a fact of life; that’s international affairs!”
The talks collapsed in the final stages due to a disagreement between emerging powers India and China and the US. The new round was supposed to give developing countries greater access to the markets of the developed world and to remove trade subsidies, which force developing countries to compete with artificially cheap produce from wealthy states.
“We are adamantly opposed to food subsidies, safeguards and quotas because they cause distortions in the international market. It’s not the way to spend government money and it takes the dynamism out of the market,” stresses the Ambassador.
The same is true of sugarcane production for bio-ethanol, he adds. “If wealthy countries subsidise the production of their ethanol and export it, what chance do those countries in Africa and Latin America have?”
Despite the failure to reach an agreement in July, the Ambassador is not ready to declare the Doha Round dead. “We have good director general in Pascal Lamy and Europe had a good trade commissioner in Peter Mandelson, so let’s see what happens.”
Another round of negotiations for which Brazil will be preparing is the climate change talks in Copenhagen at the end of next year. As the custodian of the world’s largest rainforests, and a top producer of biofuels, climate change is likely to be an important aspect of his brief in London, particularly since both Britain and Brazil have taken the lead on this issue.
“Climate Change worries us very much,” says Santos-Neves. “We have one of the best records in curtailing emissions and promoting green technologies and sustainable development.”
He adds that it’s time the developed countries take greater responsibility for climate change before asking developing nations to put a break on their advancement. “It’s a fact that countries that pollute more should clean up their act.”
Brazil has made huge strides recently to lift people out of poverty, but still has some way to go, so balancing the need for development while preserving the environment remains important.
“We have preserved the Amazon for five centuries, and not for lack of interest,” he says. “We do the best we can about climate change and ecological questions and indigenous questions. But at the same time we are not a conservative country. We don’t want to keep things unchanged,” says the Ambassador.
In addition to the two big issues of trade and climate change, Brazil cooperates with Britain on a number of levels. Bilateral trade and investment is huge with most British bluechip companies – particularly those in energy, mining and banking – operating in Brazil.
The country also has the largest scientific base outside of the G8 and the year of scientific cooperation with Britain last year has been extended.
Cultural exchange has intensified too. “There is a boom in cultural interest for Brazil,” he says, pointing to a packed autumn programme that includes Brazilian artist Cildo Meirelles at the Tate, the Brazilian film festival in the Barbican and sell-out concerts featuring Brazilian musicians.
“All in all it keeps me very busy,” he smiles. “But you are busier when things are not going as well!”
