There was no table six meters long when the two heads of state met. It was different recently at the crisis talks with Chancellor Scholz.
(Photo: AP)
Sao Paulo Without a work agenda but with plenty of time to spare, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro started his state visit to Russia yesterday. After the talks with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the heads of state flattered each other: Brazil is in solidarity with Russia, Bolsonaro said.
Brazil is Russia’s “leading partner” in South America, Putin said, and the countries are bound by “friendship and mutual understanding.” After the talks, which Putin described as “thorough and constructive,” the Kremlin released a statement saying the two leaders had agreed to work closer together on energy and trade.
The United States tried in advance to dissuade both Argentina and Brazil from visiting Putin at a time when the conflict between Russia and the West over the Ukraine question is escalating. Bolsonaro justified his visit by saying that Russia was Brazil’s most important fertilizer supplier and that deliveries would be delayed.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández paid a state visit to Putin last week. Fernández declared in Moscow that Argentina would disrupt the dominance of the US and the International Monetary Fund. He also praised his country as a bridgehead for Russian investments in South America.
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That was a faux pas vis-à-vis Washington, because a few days ago Argentina signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that would benefit the government and economy of the South American country. This happened with the express blessing of the US, but also of the EU, which is in charge of the fund in Washington.
Fernández negotiates with China
It appears that a geopolitical shift is taking place in relations between South America and the rest of the world. Argentina and Brazil are seizing the opportunities presented by the increasing confrontation between China, Russia and the West.
>> Read here: A year ago Corona hell, now vaccination world champion: How South America managed the turnaround
Fernández even used his trip to conclude an investment agreement with China as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China wants to invest 23 billion dollars in the infrastructure of the pampas in the next few years, including in the country’s fourth nuclear power plant.
This makes Argentina the number 20 country in Latin America that has close ties with China. Of the large countries, only Mexico, Brazil and Colombia are not linked to China via a BRI agreement.
If you look at the diplomacy of the two South American heads of state, then from their point of view it can be strategically justified as follows: Both want to make their states independent, they want to talk to everyone, trade and attract investments.
In addition, they learned during the corona crisis that China and Russia, with their vaccine deliveries such as Coronavac and Sputnik V, made the first vaccinations in South America possible in the first place. For a long time, no vaccines or other support in the pandemic came from Europe and the USA.
So it all looks like Brazil and Argentina are currently moving away not only from the US but also from Europe. Both states are the most important South American economies. They also dominate Mercosur, with which the EU has concluded a free trade agreement. The agreement alone could be called into question with the accession of Argentina (like Uruguay before it) to the BRI.
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