Globalaffairs

Issue 17/diciembre-enero 2010
By Sandra Azima

In recent weeks, Brazil has intriguingly become involved in diplomatic relations with key Middle Eastern leaders, as it has asserted its aspiration to readily engage and take a leading role in Middle East affairs. Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has warmly welcomed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-the first Iranian president to visit Brazil. Furthermore, prior to Ahmadinejad visit, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, had been hosted by Lula. Lula took this opportunity to hint at Brazil’s determination to launch a new beginning in the Middle East peace process. Brazil’s fresh diplomatic dynamics reflect Lula’s ambition and determination to project Brazil into Middle East affairs and to act as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as US-Iranian relations. Brazil’s expectations to engage in a more active diplomatic post in the peace process in the Middle East has been consolidated by President Lula who has stressed the importance of searching for peace in the Middle East. This paper attempts to determine why Brazil desires to assert its role in the Region, what such a position entails and how this approach may impact the diplomatic realm.

Brazil and Iran relations, for the sake of peace or business?

In hosting President Ahmadinejad, President Lula has engaged in building and developing a relationship with Iran, progressing the range of bilateral trade agreements and visa-free travel previously agreed. As a first step in the right direction, President Lula stressed the need to maintain global peace, and enhance Iran relations

“I spoke about peace with President Shimon Peres, with Mahmoud Abbas and I will speak with Ahmadinejad about it. I am going to speak about it because I think only peace can guarantee the growth of countries, and tranquillity of peoples and a better life for people. I have a notion of the significance of the conflicts in the Middle East. I have a notion of the role of Iran, and that of Israel, and the role of Palestine, and of Syria.” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.(1)

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil Participates in Roundtable Discussion on Africa. Source: United Nations, New York

In addition, President Lula has stressed the importance of President Ahmadinejad visit to Brazil, claiming that the two countries can co-operate to enhance a new economic order. (2) Notwithstanding this, Brazil has been criticized for taking a lenient view on Iran’s nuclear program as well as the disputed re-elections. The vision of President Lula and his government is that the solution is to deal with the issues by means of dialogue rather than isolation, as he had been advocated in the West. President Lula has furthermore pointed out that it considers Iran to effectively have the right to develop peaceful nuclear technology, provided that it does not violate international rules. (3) Meanwhile, grounds of establishing enhanced relations between Iran and Brazil appear well in place. Not only has the recent visit served this purpose, but moreover Brazil’s participation in the Middle East has been supported by President Ahmadinejad. Whilst possible agreements between Iran and Brazil and Brazil’s increased participation in the region have been greatly encouraged by Ahmadinejad, “can help promote peace and stability,” a somewhat different stance must be highlighted. Brazil’s increased role in developing bi-lateral trade and commerce collaboration.

On the one hand, the peace process and conflict resolution seem to be of importance. Conversely, the business and financial outlooks of the two nations also seem to be of issue. Since 2004, Brazil’s export to Iran has doubled and Brazil has consequently been Iran’s largest trade partner in Latin America. (4) In this respect, Iran has expressed aims to increase trade figures from $2 billion to $15 billion in its dealing with Brazil (5), marking perhaps not merely an alleged peace plan in the diplomatic sphere, but rather also shifting the focus to enhanced business objectives. Analysts assert that the visit of Ahmadinejad also shows increased undertakings by developing countries to initiate so-called south-to-south trade models in order to counter the ‘Washington Consensus’ model of business. (6) Namely, beyond regional diplomacy as an underlying motive, the prospect of enhanced trade agreements between the two nations and in particular between Brazil and the Middle East remains a focal point of the affairs.

Accordingly, these various interests must be taken into account; clearly establishing relationships with the Middle East to promote trade and commerce relations and establish complementary economical prospects is deeply motivating for facilitating peace. Large amounts of Iranian dollars are provided to fund a range of social and development projects throughout Latin America and exemplify the nations’ objectives of enacting mutual trade agreements. (7) It is safe to say that not only is Brazil’s increased role in the Middle East a step in this direction, but growing cooperation with other Latin American countries such as the relationships between Iran and Cuba and Venezuela.

Opposition or recognition?

Despite Brazil’s ambition to adopt a broader stance to the Middle East conflict by means of dialogue and communication with key country leaders, this position has given rise to resonance both at a national and global level. Two protests followed President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brazil, mainly by Jews, gays and other activist groups. These protests point to the resistance at a domestic level to which the diplomatic ties between Brazil and Iran has generated. (8) Despite this, President Barack Obama has shown support for enhanced dialogue with Iran especially pertaining to the issue of nuclear arms (9) and has recognized Brazil as a rising country with the capacity of promoting diplomatic relations with Iran so as to strengthen efforts between Washington and Tehran.

Moreover, as many observers have indicated, this diplomatic expansion by Brazil has generated a new dimension of international relations as Brazil adopts a role likened to the ‘Switzerland of South America’ (10) and in these terms analysts have pointed out that this may be a step further by entering a novel arena of diplomacy. On the other hand, from a wider, international spectrum President Lula’s relationship with Iran has been termed as standing in conflict with Western policies adopted with the objective of isolating and sanctioning Iran concerning their nuclear programmes. The position taken by President Lula has been considerably different to these approaches and despite US and EU policy disagreements; President Lula insists that communication ought to be the trail to peace.

A mediator in the Middle East?

President Lula’s initiative to improve the Middle East situation has been initiated so as to somewhat take on the role of an intermediary; “Brazil intends to intermediate dialogue between Tehran and Washington.” (11) It appears that Brazil is willing to adopt such a role, in order to mediate between the three main countries which are at the heart of the Middle East conflict, namely Israel, Palestine and Iran. Such a role has been encouraged by the leaders, and even Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated “I think that Brazil, more than any other country, can try to convince Iranians to stop their nuclear program and, of course, to convince the Palestinians to start direct talks.” (12) It appears that President Lula has the requisites for taking on such a role in seeking to ease the conflicts, yet sceptics stress that Brazil is incapable of achieving substantive peace agreements considering Brazil’s rather modest diplomatic realm in the region. Yet prior to taking on a challenge of international call and willingness to engage in Middle East peace talks, a focus essentially needs to be directed to Brazil’s domestic situation and the establishment of a more prominent economic progression. Indeed, Brazil’s economic progress has been on the rise in the last ten years and the country has endured the global financial crisis in a fairly balanced manner; however the fact still remains that the country needs to advance labor productivity and seek to progress towards sustained growth. (13)

Not only it is clear that Brazil aims to widen its ambition in the Middle East and somewhat in the global arena, but it is also essential that President Lula goes beyond his role in the international community and demonstrates his determination to a genuine and real internal leadership so as to boost Brazil’s economy and to effectively drive domestic growth and investment to the next level.

However, it is clear that President Lula’s determination is a solid one and his goals to engage in Middle East affairs are unquestionable. Following President Lula’s meeting with President Shimon Peres, a first step had been taken by means of signing a cinematography co-production agreement between the countries.

In addition, The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas recently expressed his welcoming of Brazil’s participation in the Middle East; “With respect to you, President Lula, we would like you to have a role, and you’re ready for it”, (14) thus it is safe to claim that in these terms President Lula has effectively gained the recognition of the leaders to take on an active role in international attempts to settle on disputes in the Middle East.

President Lula ambitions to play a greater role in the region are beyond doubt by stressing the United Nations intervention in all peace dealings in the Middle East. His ambition to embark upon the road to peace has also been consolidated by insisting that settlement expansions on Palestinian territory stands in conflict with the 2003 Roadmap for Peace plan and that West Bank settlements must be stopped so as to facilitate the peace process and effectively implement the plan. (15) Moreover, Lula’s hopes to initiate a prospective football match between Brazilian football players combined with players from Israel and Palestine during 2010 (16) is another unequivocal sign of his decisiveness to ease any obstacles in the region and to expand diplomatic relations in an ultimate hope to secure the Middle East diplomacy and strengthen future prospects of peace.

Nevertheless, although it is tempting to conclude that Brazil’s ambitions to strengthen the Middle East relations are driven by aims of enacting peace plans and enhancing the Middle Eastern diplomacy, it must also be recognized that recent ties between the nations are also motivated by solid business and trade interests. Whether peace rather than commerce constitutes a genuine part of the agenda is yet to be determined.

Sandra Azima
BA Law with French legal studies, University of Westminster, London

References
(1) Gabriel Elizondo ‘Iran and Latin America: dollars, cents, reais, rials’, The Americas Blog, 22nd November. Available at: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2009/11/22/iran-and-latin-america-dollars-cents-reais-rials
(2) Greg Weeks ‘Brazil in the Middle East’, Two weeks notice: A latin Americna Politics Blog, 23rd November, 2009. Available at http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/
(3) Jonathan Stibbs ‘Brazil’s Middle Eastern adventure’, 30 November 2009. Also available at: http://rt.com/Politics/2009-11-30/brazils-middle-eastern-adventure.html
(4) Ely Karmon’ Irans Strategic Penetration in Latin America’, 25 April, 2009. Also available at: http://www.rightsidenews.com/200904254513/global-terrorism/irans-strategic-penetration-in-latin-america.html
(5) Ely Karmon’ Irans Strategic Penetration in Latin America’, 25 April, 2009. Also available at: http://www.rightsidenews.com/200904254513/global-terrorism/irans-strategic-penetration-in-latin-america.html
(6) Jonathan Stibbs for RT, Brazil’s Middle Eastern adventure’, 30 November, 2008. Also available: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2009/11/22/iran-and-latin-america-dollars-cents-reais-rials
(7) Ely Karmon’ Irans Strategic Penetration in Latin America’, 25 April, 2009. Also available at: http://www.rightsidenews.com/200904254513/global-terrorism/irans-strategic-penetration-in-latin-america.html
(8) Beatriz Bissio, ‘Brazil-Iran: New Boost to South-South Diplomacy’, Interpress Service, November 24, 2009. Also available at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49403
(9) Alexei Barrionuevo, ‘Brazil Elbows U.S. on the Diplomatic Stage’, 22 November, 2009. Also available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/world/americas/23brazil.html?_r=1
(10) Gabriel Elizondo’ ‘Brazil as Middle East peace broker?’, 16 November, 2009. Also available at: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2009/11/16/brazil-middle-east-peace-broker
(11) Gabriel Elizondo’ ‘Brazil as Middle East peace broker?’, 16 November, 2009. Also available at: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2009/11/16/brazil-middle-east-peace-broker
(12) Jonathan Stibbs for RT, Brazil’s Middle Eastern adventure’, 30 November, 2008. Also available at: http://rt.com/Politics/2009-11-30/brazils-middle-eastern-adventure.html
(13) Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, ‘Economic Survey of Brazil 2009: Looking beyond the global financial and economic crisis towards sustained growth’, 14 July, 2009. Also available at: http://www.oecd.org/document/0/0,3343,en_2649_33733_43162304_1_1_1_1,00.html
(14) Tehran Times, ‘Brazil: U.S. responsible for the crisis in the Middle East’, 22 November, 2009. Also available at: http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=208475
(15) Washington Post, ‘Brazil leader urges freeze on Israeli settlements’, 20 November, 2009. Also available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112002100.html
(16) Sara Miller Llana, ‘Honduras crisis: Brazil grabs leadership role’, 22 September, 2009. Also available at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0922/p90s01-woam.html

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