Brazil signs TAC, offering win-win economic cooperation

Brazil has become the 31st contracting party and the first in Latin America to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), which offers various cooperation measures ranging from food security to
energy.

The instruments of Brazil’s accession to the TAC and its extension were signed on Saturday by foreign ministers from the 10 ASEAN member states and Brazilian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Edileuza Reis at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Brazilian Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN Paulo Alberto da Silveira Soares told The Jakarta Post that Brazil considered the accession to the TAC a landmark in its relations with Southeast Asia as the country has now become fully engaged in cooperation in a broad sense.

“Now, we are going to start cooperation in sport, tourism, energy security and renewable energy, poverty eradication and food security,” he said after the signing ceremony.

“These five fields are areas where we can concretely cooperate with the 10 member countries.”

On food security, Soares said Brazil could transfer technology on cattle breeding by transporting cows and bulls to Indonesia, for example; or in show how sugar cane could be processed into ethanol as biofuel.

“It will be very beneficial for countries like Indonesia to cooperate with Brazil. These are areas where Brazil has expertise,” he said.

Soares maintained that cooperation would be more than simply exporting goods to Southeast Asia; it would be more about the transfer of technology with the TAC acting as the basis for such cooperation.

“With the transfer of technology, we can become global players, global suppliers,” he said.

“Imagine if Brazil and Indonesia cooperate in cattle breeding; together, our private sectors can become joint multinational companies supplying the Chinese, European and even the American markets.”

While admitting that Brazil could go it alone, cooperation with Indonesia or any other ASEAN member country would produce more and result in big multinational companies.

“It is not going to happen overnight but we have to start the cooperation. It will change the way economy has been run in the last 200 years. It is very ambitious.”

Soares also said that in possessing various tropical technologies, cooperation with ASEAN countries, which are located on the equator, would be strategic.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Permanent Representative to ASEAN, Ngurah Swajaya, said that Brazil’s accession highlighted the increasing importance of ASEAN, not only in the region but also around the world.

“This also shows Brazil’s commitment to increase its engagement with ASEAN in various fields ahead of the ASEAN Community in 2015,” he told the Post.

“Brazil, for example, has provided trainings for young ASEAN diplomats for two to three weeks.”

By signing the TAC, Ngurah said, ASEAN could build an alliance with Brazil addressing climate change as well as cooperation in food and energy security.

He added that Brazil was considered as having a separate mission to ASEAN, following in the footsteps of China, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

“The European Union is also due to open a separate mission, while Argentina, Chile and Norway will be signing the TAC soon,” he said.

Sourced: thejakartapost