Luanda (Angola), November 3, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - "Concrete affirmative policies," were what President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised this morning at the start of a meeting between the Presidents and Ministers of Angola and Brazil, in Luanda. The meeting marked the official inauguration of a State visit by a delegation headed by Lula to the country which is historically Brazil's most important partner on the African continent. Among the main activities on the agenda are bilateral cooperation agreements. The intention is to help in the "national reconstruction" of a country in which a 41-year long sequence of conflicts ended last year.
Education is the principal theme of the diplomatic accords. This includes the reorganization of the country's school system, destroyed by the conflicts, as well as teacher training, through deeper support for the Angolan "School for Everybody" project, which has received Brazilian backing since 2002.
There will also be an expansion of collaboration in the field of professional training, with the participation of institutions like the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service (Senai), which acts in projects in Angola. Public administration is another area to be benefitted. The goal is to train personnel for the Angolan State, which, since the consolidation of the democratic regime in the country (so far, the only multipartisan elections were in 1992), has suffered from a lack of specialized professionals.
Closer relations between Brazil and Angola are viewed by President Lula as a matter of "justice," not a "favor," for a country with which Brazil has "blood ties." "A strong and prosperous Angola can be the engine of progress for an entire region," he said at the opening of the bilateral meeting, with reference to the role the country has played.
The new agreements also cover agriculture and livestock raising, through the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) and programs in support of rural extension and sustainable development. Sports, culture, environment, and scientific and technological research are on the list of sectors to receive Brazilian collaboration - the last of these with prospects for participation by Petrobras and the National Petroleum Agency.
In the area of health, Lula announced in his speech the intention to establish new agreements in the fields of vaccination and the fight against malaria and Aids - the chief diseases that beset the country - although these themes are still not part of the final list of signed agreements.
BUSINESS DEALS
However, it was in the National Assembly and at the close of activities of the Entrepreneurial Mission in Angola that Lula announced the measures that were most awaited by the approximately one hundred Brazilian businessmen who are accompanying him on his journey this week through five African countries. The most important measure is backing by the National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) for the establishment of Brazilian companies in Angola. According to information from the bank, the credit line still has no defined limit and will depend on the demand generated by the projects. In his speech the Brazilian President made specific reference to the importance of infrastructure projects in this context.
"The Atlantic unites us," Lula told the Assembly, where he recalled that, in colonial times, the flow of vessels between Brazil and Africa was intense. "For three centuries, there were more ships traveling from Luanda or Benguela to Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, or Recife than on any other route," he affirmed, with the reservation that "these ships, however, transported sadness, violence, and fear," a reference to the slave trade.
Despite admitting that in the period that ensued following the end of the slave trade, Brazil "turned its back on Africa," Lula did not offer a solution to the problem of sea and air transport, necessary for the expansion of bilateral trade, which currently runs around US$ 200 million. "Entrepreneurs are correct to complain that it is often faster and cheaper to travel to Europe or the United States than to Africa, which is much closer to Brazil," Lula said. Then he challenged the audience: "If we want our ideals of cooperation and integration to be more than a rhetorical exercise, we must work to join our two shores of the Atlantic."
The demand by Brazilian entrepreneurs in Angola for the installation of branches of official banks, such as the Federal Savings Bank and the Bank of Brazil, received acknowledgement from the President. He recognized the deficiency: "You are correct to condemn the lack of direct banking links which would facilitate financial transfers between our countries."
In the area of trade, Lula made a commitment: "We are also willing to expand African countries' access to our market. We shall examine formulas compatible with the WTO's rules to allow unhampered entry to the Brazilian market for products from the poorest countries." He disclosed that the government is already studying this measure in legal terms. "I believe that we already have at our disposition the legal framework for such steps, through the General System of Preferences among Developing Countries. We must use it." Later, he was incisive: "We are ready to expand access for Angolan products to the Brazilian market."
The Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, pointed out, however, that it is first necessary to have a notion of all the rules in the trade context, for it to be possible to favor the purchase of African products. "I am not saying that it will occur overnight, but it already represents a different way of looking at these countries." He also said that at the meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) which will be held in Brazil in 2004, it will be possible to discuss the issue in greater depth. "Indeed, we would like other countries to treat us the same way."
INDUSTRIAL POLICY IN AFRICA
After the conclusion of the formal session in the Assembly, the Minister of Development, Luiz Fernando Furlan, expressed caution regarding the measure. In his view, what is needed first is to build an industrial sector in the country. "The exportation of Angolan products is very limited today. We have to diversity production," he said. In this context, in his opinion, Brazil could help in the development of sectors such as agroindustry and the transformation of products such as petroleum, marble, and granite, which would make "value aggregation" possible. (DAS)
