Renata Giraldi Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – Brazil’s minister of Foreign Relations, Antonio Patriota, says that the visit by president Barack Obama of the United States represents a significant reset in bilateral relations. What Brazil wants, declared the minister, is to be treated as an equal, in a more seamless relationship without confrontations.

“The world is ready for this kind of relationship. Brazil is a solid democracy,” said Patriota, adding that the country, in line with the need to protect the planet and use clean energy, gets 45% of its energy from renewable sources. He also pointed out that the government is actively engaged in various global issues that have resulted in relations with other countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

“We are engaged with our neighbors and the developing world. There are multiple opportunities for cooperation with the modern Brazil. We seek multi-polar cooperation, not rivalries or conflict,” said the minister.

Patriota declared that there are hopes that Obama will declare support for a reform of the United Nations Security Council and a permanent seat for Brazil. Even so, he admitted that there were other obstacles, including some countries that were opposed to any reform of the council.

A favorable declaration by the US will not make a dramatic difference in the situation, the minister said, as he observed that real reform will require intense negotiations at the UN and a favorable vote by two-thirds of the members of the Security Council (or, as there are fifteen members, the votes of ten nations). However, Patriota emphasized, American support would be significant.

Patriota put the Obama visit in historical perspective pointing out that he was the ninth US president to visit Brazil, but that this moment was certainly the most propitious for Brazil. “We are in a good phase. Solid economic conditions, a stable political scene and with our international standing high. We are active diplomatically with a truly global reach nowadays,” said the minister.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Brasil quer relação de igual para igual com Estados Unidos, diz Patriota