Brazil as ‘Southern donor’: beyond hierarchy and national interests in development cooperation?

Abstract

This article analyses Brazil's growing role in external development assistance. During Lula da Silva's presidency, cooperation with developing countries grew dramatically. While the official position is that Brazilian development assistance is moved not by national economic or political interests, but by international ‘solidarity’, and does not reproduce the North–South traditional aid relations, we suggest that it is not completely divorced from national, sub-national or sectoral interests and cannot be viewed apart from Brazil's broader foreign policy objectives. Brazil does pursue political, economic and commercial interests and, concomitantly, has made a positive difference in the recipient countries. However, more empirical research and field investigation are needed to better gauge the impact of Brazil's assistance initiatives and their contributions to South–South cooperation more broadly. During Lula's terms (2003–2010), Brazil could be classified as a ‘Southern donor’, which expresses the country's own novelties, and tensions, of simultaneously being a donor and a developing country.

Notes

¹ ‘Speak softly and carry a blank cheque: Brazil's foreign-aid programme’, The Economist, 15 July 2010, < http://www.economist.com/node/16592455?story_id = 16592455>, accessed 8 January 2012; Lidia Cabral, ‘Study on Brazilian development cooperation’, ODI Study Report, July 2010 (funded by DfID of the UK), < http://www.odi.org.uk/work/projects/details.asp?id = 2182&title = study-brazilian-development-cooperation>, accessed 8 January 2012; Paulo Sotero, ‘Brazil as an emerging donor: growing pains and huge potential’, Development Outreach, February 2009, < http://elibrary.worldbank.org/docserver/download/deor_11_1_18.pdf?expires = 1326057389&id = id&accname = guest&checksum = E0A3F5D947F12AA120576BB61BC5E9BF>, accessed 8 January 2012.

² In fact, technical cooperation provided by Brazil started to be emphasized and to grow in the 1980s, while the cooperation received by the country remained stable. In 1986, a project supported by UNDP with Brazilian resources BRA/86/001 was established to foster Brazilian technical cooperation to developing countries (TCDC). During the 1990s, TCDC did not grow in Brazil. The big leap was observed in the mid 2000s during the second term of Lula's presidency.

³ The Lula government advocated a gradual phasing-out of receiving ODA. This meant that the country continued to receive development assistance in some areas, even though there was a significant overall decline. Since the 1990s, the bilateral and multilateral assistance that Brazil has received has shifted mainly from supporting economic and industrial development to environmental protection, social welfare and sustainable development.

⁴ External development assistance, or what Fues (2009) calls ‘international development cooperation’, can be seen as a distinct subsystem of global governance which aims at universal poverty eradication and sustainable development. This kind of cooperation is shaped by tensions between foreign and domestic policy objectives.

⁵ Even though development assistance covers technical and financial cooperation, as Brazil provides mostly technical cooperation, which is one kind of development assistance, the two expressions will be used interchangeably. According to the DAC, ‘development assistance’ refers mainly to grants and loans to countries and territories on the DAC list of ODA recipients and to multilateral agencies to promote development and welfare. In addition to financial flows, it includes technical cooperation as aid. See < http://www.oecd.org/document/32/0,3343,en_2649_33721_42632800_1_1_1_1,00.html#ODA>, accessed 2 April 2010.

⁶ Brazil has not provided significant amounts of grants, concessional loans or technological transfer to developing countries, and has concentrated instead on technical cooperation. However, there is a new tendency, yet to be consolidated, of providing special credits to other developing countries through the BNDES.

⁷ See < http://www.abc.gov.br/abc/abc_ctpd.asp>, accessed 23 February 2007.

⁸ This may change, as there is a trend towards the growth of international operations of the BNDES, offering credits to countries in Latin America and Africa, and the creation of financial mechanisms like the one established between Brazil and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). See < http://www.itamaraty.gov.br/sala-de-imprensa/discursos-artigos-entrevistas-e-outras-comunicacoes/presidente-da-republica-federativa-do-brasil/discurso-durante-sessao-de-abertura-da-cupula-brasil-2013-comunidade-economica-dos-estados-da-africa-ocidental-cedeao>, accessed 18 August 2010.

⁹ In fact, the publication came after the main research for this article was done.

¹⁰ Free translation by the authors.

¹¹ See DAC List of ODA Recipients: < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/40/43540882.pdf>, accessed 2 April 2010.

¹² In December 2009, data from the SEAIN/MPOG show that 141 projects were being carried out, valued at US$17,864,297,000.

¹³ We interviewed international cooperation officers in 2007 and 2010.

¹⁴ Such inter-institutional activities often go unnoted in the official data of the Brazilian authorities. These unofficial development cooperation commitments are not based on official agreements between states and tend to be much more dispersed and harder to assess in terms of results.

¹⁵ Table 3, from the Report Cooperaça˜o brasileira para o desenvolvimento internacional: 2005–2009 (IPEA 2010b, 21) shows the total amount of US$362,210,063.08 as the total expenditure for Brazilian international cooperation for development in 2009 including humanitarian assistance, scholarships for foreigners, technical cooperation and contributions for international organizations (annual average of the currency exchange for 2009).

¹⁶ Brazilian delegation statement at the High-Level Committee on South–South Cooperation, Fourteenth Session, HLC 2005, < http://ssc.undp.org/unssc_uploads/HLC_reports/hlc14/HLC14_brazil.pdf>, accessed 23 November 2011.

¹⁷ Vaz and Inoue (2007).

¹⁸ This is the translation into English as it appears on < http://www.mre.gov.br/ingles/index.htm>, accessed May 2007.

¹⁹ Before 1987, the DCOPT was responsible for establishing relations with external partners and the SUBIN for national coordination. Both organs viewed the projects and activities as being part of the National System of Technical Cooperation and the idea was to link it to the National Development Plans (PNDs) (Inoue and Apostolova 1995).

²⁰ Free translation.

²¹ This department is responsible for the relations with international financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the World Bank, as well as bilateral institutions such as KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau [Reconstruction Credit Institute]) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). SEAIN is also the operational focal point for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Brazil.

²² According to Schmitz and colleagues (2010), the resources for Brazilian international development cooperation comprise everything that has been invested by the federal government without reimbursement or with partial reimbursement in foreign governments, nationals from other countries in Brazilian territory, and international organizations aiming to promote international development. This is understood as strengthening international organizations, foreign groups and population capacities so they can achieve better socio-economic conditions.

²³ The first report on Brazilian cooperation for international development (IPEA 2010b) was elaborated by the IPEA. It covers the period 2005 to 2009. It is a quantitative study that estimates the volume of resources that the Brazilian government invested in the IDC in that period (Schmitz et al 2010).

²⁴ The principle of universalism in Brazilian foreign policy has been continuously re-stated and has emerged to counter ‘Americanism’ or the idea of privileging foreign relations with the US. In general terms, the ‘universalist’ foreign policy approach means broadening the country's relations throughout all continents according to timely determined national interests and not to a priori determined preferences.

²⁵ President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's statement during his visit to Tanzania, 7 July 2010, < http://www.itamaraty.gov.br/sala-de-imprensa/discursos-artigos-entrevistas-e-outras-comunicacoes/presidente-da-republica-federativa-do-brasil/discurso-na-cerimonia-de-abertura-do-encontro-empresarial-brasil-tanzania>, accessed 18 August 2010.

²⁶ Márcio Lopes Correa, Coordinator-General of Multilateral Technical Cooperation, speech at Policy Dialogue on Development Co-operation, Mexico City, 28–29 September 2009, < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/47/43876987.pdf>, accessed 27 August 2010.

²⁷ Ambassador Celso Amorim speech at the Follow-up International Conference on the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development, Doha, Qatar, 29 November to 2 December 2008, < http://www.itamaraty.gov.br/sala-de-imprensa/discursos-artigos-entrevistas-e-outras-comunicacoes/embaixador-celso-luiz-nunes-amorim/610312363957-discurso-do-ministro-das-relacoes-exteriores-do>, accessed 20 August 2010.

²⁸ Brazilian delegation statement during the High Level UN Conference on South–South Cooperation, Nairobi, 1–3 December 2009.

²⁹ Brazilian delegation statement at the High Level UN Conference on South–South Cooperation, Nairobi, 1–2 December 2009.

³⁰ Brazilian officers interview with authors, November 2011.

³¹ Until the mid 1970s, the country did not have an explicit policy towards the Portuguese-speaking African countries, which became an issue for Brazil's international development assistance efforts because the ‘Treaty of Friendship’ between Brazil and Portugal restricted Brazil from openly opposing Portuguese colonialism. With the demise of Portugese colonial power and the emergence of Brazil's ‘pragmatic’ foreign policy vision in the 1970s, outreach to Portuguese-speaking Africa became a policy priority, in addition to relations with South American countries.

³² The figures were given in average cost of the dollar in the year 2009. Precisely, the figure for 2005 was US$158,103,452 and for 2009 US$362,210,063.

³³ In the study, the figures for technical cooperation include also scientific and technological cooperation.

³⁴ See the quote from former President Lula's speech above (footnote 27).

³⁵ For government authorities, South–South cooperation could mean anything from policy coordination among Southern countries as in the IBSA scheme to all the forms of ‘cooperation for international development’ that were included in the study by IPEA (2010b): humanitarian assistance, scientific, technical and technological cooperation (under the rubric of ‘technical cooperation’), scholarships and contributions to international organizations. The study does not include, however, special credits provided to other developing countries.

³⁶ Ambassador Celso Amorim's foreword in ABC (2009).

³⁷ Ambassador Celso Amorim, MRE, writes, ‘Brazil has broadened its dialogue with Africa since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office. The strategy of strengthening ties with that continent is part of a broader effort that seeks both to consolidate Brazil as a global player and to ensure that Brazilian foreign policy takes into account elements of the country's national identity’, ABC (2009).

³⁸ See < http://www.abc.gov.br/abc/coordenacoesCGPDIntroducao.asp>, accessed 9 September 2010.

³⁹ The data were obtained during the interviews with the author at the ABC in May–June 2007 and March 2010.

⁴⁰ Minister Marco Farani (ABC 2009)

⁴¹ See < http://www.abc.gov.br/abc/abc.asp>, accesed 16 April 2007.

⁴² Field investigations were done in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro in the first semester of 2007, and in Sao Paulo and Brasilia in the first semester of 2010.

⁴³ See Márcio Lopes Correa, Coordinator-General of Multilateral Technical Cooperation, speech at Policy Dialogue on Development Co-operation, Mexico City, 28–29 September 2009, < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/47/43876987.pdf>, accessed 27 August 2010.

⁴⁴ Márcio Lopes Correa, Coordinator-General of Multilateral Technical Cooperation, speech at Policy Dialogue on Development Co-operation, Mexico City, 28–29 September 2009, < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/47/43876987.pdf>, accessed 27 August 2010.

⁴⁵ See Márcio Lopes Correa, Coordinator-General of Multilateral Technical Cooperation, speech at Policy Dialogue on Development Co-operation, Mexico City, 28–29 September 2009, < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/47/43876987.pdf>, accessed 27 August 2010.

⁴⁶ See < http://www.abc.gov.br/projetos/cooperacaoPrestadaTriangular.asp>, accessed 4 May 2010.

⁴⁷  < http://www.abc.gov.br/abc/abc_ctpd_triangular.asp>, accessed 14 March 2007.

⁴⁸  < http://www.jica.go.jp/brazil/portuguese/office/activities/triangular01.html>, accessed 30 November 2011.

⁴⁹ BMZ Position Paper (2004), 9.

⁵⁰  < http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/success_stories/south-america/brazil-regional.asp>, accessed 14 March 2010.

⁵¹  < http://www.abc.gov.br/projetos/cooperacaoPrestadaOIIBAS.asp>, accessed 28 November 2011.

⁵² Márcio Lopes Correa, Coordinator-General of Multilateral Technical Cooperation, speech at Policy Dialogue on Development Co-operation, Mexico City, 28–29 September 2009, < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/47/43876987.pdf>, accessed 27 August 2010.

⁵³ See Tables 3 and 4. Please note that the table also considers the years after 2009.

⁵⁴ Brazilian delegation statement during the High Level UN Conference on South–South Cooperation, Nairobi, 1–3 December 2009.

⁵⁵ Brazilian delegate at the OECD ‘Cooperation with Africa’ Seminar, Paris, 22 October 2007.

⁵⁶ Brazilian delegation statement during the High Level UN Conference on South–South Cooperation, Nairobi, 1–3 December 2009.

⁵⁷ Márcio Lopes Correa, Coordinator-General of Multilateral Technical Cooperation, speech at Policy Dialogue on Development Co-operation, Mexico City, 28–29 September 2009, < http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/47/43876987.pdf>, accessed 27 August 2010.

⁵⁸ Senior officer interview with authors.

⁶² See < http://www.abc.gov.br/abc/coordenacoesCGPDIntroducao.asp>, accessed 9 September 2010. Paratheses added.

⁵⁹ ‘Cooperação Bilateral com América Latina e Caribe’, ABC, 2 June 2006, < http://www.abc.gov.br/noticias/banco_noticias.asp?id_Localizacao = 3)>, accessed 6 February 2007

⁶⁰ Among the exceptions are Mexico and Argentina.

⁶¹ See < http://www.abc.gov.br/abc/abc_ctpd.asp>, accessed 16 April 2007.

⁶³ Schläger 2007, 3.

⁶⁴ ‘Publication of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency’, June 2006, < http://www.abc.gov.br/noticias/banco_noticias.asp?id_Localizacao = 3)>; ‘Publication of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency’, October 2005, < http://www.abc.gov.br/noticias/banco_noticias.asp?id_Localizacao = 3)>.