RELATIONS BETWEEN LATIN AMERICA AND EUROPE BRAZILIAN PERSPECTIVE

Brazil and the European Union (EU) established formal relations in 1960 and since then have been cooperating on political, security, economic and cultural matters. Since 1992 the bilateral relationship is governed by the EC-Brazil framework cooperation agreement. In 2007, the EU and Brazil held its first Summit meeting in Lisbon and established a Strategic Partnership. The two sides agreed on that occasion to promote common strategies to tackle global challenges, including peace and security issues, democracy and human rights, climate change, biodiversity, energy, economic development and the fight against poverty, Mercosuls integration process and Latin Americas stability and prosperity. 2. In the framework of the EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership, a Joint Action Plan (JAP) covering the period 2009-2011 was adopted at a summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 2008. A second JAP covering the three-year period 2012-2014 was endorsed at the 5th Summit in 2011. Some 30 dialogue areas foreseen in the Action Plan are now active and continue to develop. The High Level Political Dialogue is held on a yearly basis at political or Senior Officials level and covers international and regional issues. The latest round of the High Level Political Dialogue took place last January in Brasilia, when the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and the President of the European Commission Duro Barroso and the President of the Council Herman van Rompuy, met to discuss a very wide agenda including the world economic crisis, multilateral trade negotiations, climate change, environment protection, energy, world peace and security and human rights. 3. In the economic field trade relations between Brazil and the EU became a major subject of the dialogue, as Brazil is the most important market for the EU in Latin America. The following graphics shows a broad view of Europe share in Brazil trade relations.

4. Brazil also cooperates with the European Union in the framework of MERCOSUL. Together with Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, Brazil is a founding member of the South American block. Venezuela became a member in July 2012; Bolivia is in the process of becoming a full member, and Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are associated states. In 1995, the EU and Mercosul signed an Interregional Framework Cooperation Agreement, which entered into force in 1999. At the same time the two parties decided to set up a political dialogue, to take place regularly at Heads of State, Ministerial and Senior Official levels. 5. In 2000 negotiations were open for an Association Agreement covering three fields: political dialogue, cooperation and trade. Those talks were suspended in 2004 over differences on trade. Relations in other areas, however, continued, and in 2008 was signed, during the Summit of Lima, an agreement to expand relations to the areas of science and technology, infrastructure and renewable energy. 6. After a six-year suspension, negotiations were re-launched in May 2010 at the EULAC Summit of Madrid and are ongoing. Brazil is keen on the relaunching of the negotiations of the Association Agreement between Mercosul and the EU and during the recent summit in Brasilia it was agreed between President Rousseff and President Barroso that the continued advance of the process requires now the discussion of preferential access to both markets, including the exchange of offers of access to markets. 7. A third institutional level of cooperation involving Brazil and Europe is the process of deepining the cooperation between Latin America, through CELAC and the EU.The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), was created in 2010 as a regional mechanism for political dialogue and cooperation, including for the first time

all 33 LAC countries. It merged the Rio Group that existed as a political consultation forum and CALC (Cumbres Amrica Latina y Caribe internal Latin American and Caribbean Summits. From that point on CELAC became the EU's natural counterpart for the bi-regional partnership process. 8. The first bi-regional meeting between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1999. A strategic partnership was established as the main decision of that Summit. It was then recognized that the two regions are natural partners linked by strong historical, cultural and economic ties. They co-operate closely at international level and maintain an intensive political dialogue at all levels. Besides Mercosul, the EU also cooperates with Latin America and the Caribbean in the framework of other sub regional fora for Central America, the Caribbean and the Andean Community and, of course, at bilateral level. 9. CELAC EU summits take place biennually. The last one was held in Santiago de Chile on the 26 and 27 January. Attended by a great number of Heads of State from both regions, the summit offered the opportunity for a wide ranging exchange of views between the leaders on all important items of the international agenda. The final communique, named Santiago Declaration, adopted engagements to fight protectionism, to stimulate foreign investment and condemn embargoes. The summit reviewed the progress achieved in the implementation of the bi-regional Action Plan, and added new chapters on gender and investment to the next Action Plan 2013/2014. Also included in the Santiago Declaration was the commitment to continue working together towards a new financial architecture and the implementation of the international financial regulation agenda so as to strengthen the resilience of the financial system and reduce systemic risks. 10.The Brazilian President was present at the meeting in Santiago and the Brazilian delegation was a keen and committed participant in all the debates and decisions. For Brazil, the cooperation with the European Union as one of the 33 CELAC countries is the natural complement of the cooperation conducted bilaterally and in the framework of Mercosul. 11. As a conclusion, the following graphs present some data related to the CELAC-EU trade. The UE-CELAC trade in goods between 2003 and 2008 has been characterized by steady growth, a sharp decline in 2009 and a strong recovery since then. EU27 exports to CELAC rose from 66 billion euro in 2009 to 90 bn in 2010 and 101 bn in 2011. Imports increased from 75 bn in 2009 to 96 bn in 2010 and 113 bn in 2011. Between 2003 and 2011, the EU27 has always recorded a trade deficit with CELAC, amounting to 12 bn in 2011. Although concentrated in the trade area, the graphs illustrate the vigor and the great potential of the relationship between CELAC and the EU. At the end, a few graphs were added to give a broad view of the Brazilian trade relations.

12. Among the EU27 Member States, Germany (24.4 bn euro or 28% of the total) was by far the largest exporter to CELAC in the first nine months of 2012, followed by Italy (10.6 bn or 12%), Spain (10.4 bn or 12%) and France (9.7 bn or 11%). The Netherlands3 (17.0 bn or 20%) was the largest importer, followed by Spain (15.5 bn or 18%), Germany (13.5 bn or 16%), the United Kingdom (9.9 bn or 11%) and Italy (7.7 bn or 9%).

13. Among the 33 members of the CELAC, Brazil (29.6 bn euro, or 34% of the total) was the leading destination for EU27 exports in the first nine months of 2012, followed by Mexico (20.7 bn or 24%), Argentina (6.5 bn or 8%) andChile (6.1 bn or 7%). The leading sources of EU27 imports from CELAC were also Brazil (28.5 bn or 33%), Mexico (14.3 bn or 17%), Argentina (7.7 bn or 9%) and Chile (7.4 bn or 9%).

14. Brazil as a global trader statistics.