Into Africa: Brazil Deepens Ties

Last month, Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva announced the launch of Brazilian television programming in almost the entirety of the African continent. Rebroadcast from Mozambique’s capital Maputo, Brasilia-based TV Brasil Internacional reaches 49 African countries, including Portuguese-speaking Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tome and Principe. “I want a channel that speaks well of the country, that can show Brazil as it really is,” said Lula as he announced the launch. But television highlights just one aspect of the growing “South-South” cooperation underway between Brazil and Africa. Lula has traveled to the continent 10 times since taking office and his government has opened 16 new African embassies, notes an Infolatam analysis. And while China’s Africa ties have drawn attention, Brazil’s public and private sector play a growing role across the region.

The energy sector has been a major area for partnership, with Brazil announcing in November investment of more than $6 billion in Mozambican biofuel exploration, research, and production. Last year, Brazilian mining company Vale began operation of a $1.3 billion coal-mining project in the Tete province of Mozambique. This activity built on prior development of one of the world’s largest coal handling and preparation plants in the small town of Moatize. Brazil’s state-owned Odebrecht is already building the power station and railway to link the project in Tete to the capital, Maputo. Outside of Mozambique, Oderbrect has become the largest private employer in Angola, also a Portuguese-speaking country.

Yet non-Portuguese-speaking African countries are also witnessing an increase in Brazilian investments. Last year, Nigeria’s government partnered with Brazilian state firm Petrobras to boost energy production. Sudan opened its first ethanol manufacturing plant, equipped with Brazilian technology, in June 2009. In October 2007, Brazil signed agreements with the Republic of Congo to provide training, technology, and financing to further biofuel production in that country. Moreover, Vale has shown interest in expanding into nickel and copper mining in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Namibia.

Brazil’s influence extends beyond the energy sector to areas such as agriculture, food production, climate change, media, and education. In April, Brazilian firm Dias Branco announced plans to build a $300 million biscuit and pasta factory in Ghana, which should pave the way for further Brazilian investment in western Africa. Brazil’s sugar industry, the world’s largest, has also supported Mozambique sugar production.

The growing links across the Atlantic lead to shared research and exchanges of workers, with an influx of Brazilian engineers to provide construction for the basic infrastructure needed for the export of minerals and resources. Universities in Uganda and Brazil reached a January agreement to collaborate on research and innovations in the field of biofuel technology and production. Brazil has also signed pacts with both Nigeria and South Africa to promote Brazilian trade and investment in both countries, as well as educational and cultural exchanges.

As Brazil’s much-heralded rise on the global stage grows, so do the country’s links to Africa, based on a history of language links and a large population of African descent. From 2000 to 2008, African exports to Brazil grew from $3 billion to $18.5 billion. “Brazilian society was built on the work, the sweat and the blood of Africans,” said Lula back in 2004, during a state dinner in Mozambique. He added that Brazil owed a “debt to Africa.”

Learn Mores

• The Africa-Brazil Cooperation Programme on Social Protection offers insight into the many social, medical, educational and cultural programmes being sponsored by Brazil in Africa.
• The U.S. Library of Congress provides information about the history of Brazil-Africa relations.
• BBC has published an article detailing Brazil’s cultural and ethnic roots.
• The Trade Law Center for Southern Africa provides data regarding Brazil’s economic relationship with Africa.
• Standard Bank, South Africa’s largest, features a report detailing the economic relationship between Africa and Brazil.