Watch: “The Road to Copenhagen: Perspectives on Brazil, China and India”

The event, hosted by Brazil Institute and Environmental Defense Fund, features Senator Marina Silva, Dr. Kenneth G. Lieberthal, and Raymond E. Vickery Jr.

 

Click here to watch the video.

The event covers the evolving domestic debates and international posture of these three emerging powers on climate change.

Marina Silva, a leader of the Brazilian environmental movement and former Minister of Environment of Brazil, recently left the Workers Party and is seen as a potential Green Party candidate for the Brazilian presidential elections of 2010. Kenneth G. Lieberthal, preeminent China scholar, served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council from August 1998 to October 2000. Raymond E. Vickery Jr. is widely known for his work promoting U.S.-India economic cooperation and served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Development, where he launched the U.S.-India Commercial Alliance. He is a former Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar.

Brazil’s ‘Bizarre’ Taxes May Hurt Confidence, Federated Says

Tian Huang and Paulo Winterstein-Bloomberg, 11/19/09

Brazil’s “bizarre” tax measures aimed at stemming the biggest currency rally in emerging markets threaten to undo a surge in investor confidence in the economy, said Federated Investors Inc.

“The hot money’s going there because people have confidence in what’s going on in the country, so I don’t know why they are trying to shoot down that confidence,” Geoffrey Pazzanese, who helps manage about $29.1 billion at Pittsburgh- based Federated, said in an interview. “It’s a bit bizarre.”

Brazil will begin taxing the issuance of depositary receipts in international markets in a bid to prevent companies from selling shares abroad rather than locally, the Finance Ministry said yesterday after the close of local markets.

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Ahmadinejad Welcome May Weaken Brazil Trust as It Expands Trade

Andre Soliani and Iuri Dantas-Bloomberg, 11/19/09

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s goals of expanding his nation’s global influence and strengthening commercial ties with Iran may collide as he hosts President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Brasilia next week.

Lula wants to show Brazil can play a larger international role as it pursues a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The talks will center on a plan to increase financing for Brazilian exports to Iran, which more than doubled to $1.13 billion since 2002. Iran is also considering building steel plants in Brazil to tap the country’s iron ore reserves.

By welcoming a leader whose re-election was marred by complaints of fraud and whose country is under international sanction because of its nuclear program, Lula is undermining his push to be seen as the leader of the developing world, said U.S. Representative Eliot Engel.

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Boeing May Lose $7.5 Billion Brazil Sale as Senate Blocks Envoy

Joshua Goodman-Bloomberg, 11/19/09

Boeing Co. may lose a $7.5 billion jet fighter sale to Brazil unless the U.S. Senate lifts a four- month delay in confirming President Barack Obama’s nominee for ambassador to Latin America’s biggest country, a former top U.S. diplomat to the region said.

Bernard Aronson is one of nine ex-Assistant Secretaries of State for the Western Hemisphere who yesterday sent a letter urging Senator George LeMieux, a Florida Republican, to stop blocking a vote on career diplomat Thomas Shannon’s nomination. Aronson said the delay may help France’s Dassault Aviation SA beat Boeing in the competition to sell Brazil 36 warplanes.

“This will cost thousands of U.S. jobs,” said Aronson, who served as top envoy to the region from 1989 to 1993 for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. “It’s an insult to Brazil to tell them they’re not important enough to have an ambassador like so-called advanced countries but that we want them to buy our planes over the French.”

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Read more about Boeing’s fighter jet sale to Brazil…

U.N. Cautions Brazil on Human Rights Before World Cup

Reuters-11/13/09

Brazil must be careful to respect human rights as it moves to contain violence in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the 2014 soccer World Cup and 2016 Olympics, the top U.N. rights official said on Friday.

Violence broke out in Rio de Janeiro after suspected drug traffickers shot down a police helicopter in October, spreading fear and gloom in a city that only weeks before had celebrated winning its bid to host the Olympic Games.

Human rights groups regularly accuse the city’s police of excessive use of force during slum raids. Authorities say they face a difficult challenge against the entrenched gangs.

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Brazil sparks wider currency control fears

Peter Garnham-Financial Times, 11/19/09

Asian currencies came under pressure on Thursday as a move from Brazil to further curb foreign inflows sparked fears that other countries would follow suit.

Brazil moved overnight to close a loophole that had allowed investors to avoid a 2 per cent tax on foreign investment in equities and bonds announced last month.

The government announced a 1.5 per cent tax on American Depositary Receipts. Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister, said some foreign investors had been buying ADRs to get exposure to the local equity market while avoiding the tax.

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“We have to explore new directions with the U.S,” says Former Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S.

In an extensive interview with Washington correspondent Sergio Davila, Itamaraty Secretary General Antônio Patriota, who until recently was the Brazilian Ambassador to Washington, said that Brazil and the United States have to explore new directions in their relationships, re-establishing areas of major interest and re-drafting mechanisms for bilateral cooperation. He said foreign policy has become broader than trade and economic issues to include areas such as the environment, human rights, peace and security. Patriota, who was the first foreign diplomat to meet with Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela, also talks about the lack of U.S. attention on Latin America, Honduras, Chavez, Iran, and problems on communicated with Brazil such as on the Forth Fleet and the U.S.-Colombia Defense Cooperation Agreement.

Click here to read the full interview in Portuguese.

Brazil supreme court backs extradition of ex-militant Battisti

AFP, 11/18/09

Brazil’s supreme court on Wednesday voted to extradite an Italian ex-militant, Cesare Battisti, wanted for multiple murders dating from the 1970s, despite a government order granting him political asylum.

The court was continuing constitutional deliberations to decide whether its verdict was final, or whether President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva should have the final say in the case.

Chief justice Gilmar Mendes cast the decisive vote, breaking a deadlock among his eight colleagues that had dragged the extradition hearing out over more than two months.

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Brazilian Real Falls as Mantega Signals Protection for Exports

Camila Fontana-Bloomberg, 11/17/09

Brazil’s real fell for the first time in three days after Finance Minister Guido Mantega said the government will not allow the appreciating currency to harm competitiveness in the country’s exports.

The real erased yesterday’s gain and lost 0.6 percent to 1.7225 per U.S. dollar at 11:46 a.m. New York time, from 1.7122 yesterday. The real has gained 34 percent this year, the best performance versus the dollar among 16 major and 26 emerging- market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

Brazil “won’t allow” the exchange rate to hurt the economy, Mantega told reporters in Brasilia.

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Lula Says Brazil’s 3rd-Qtr GDP Grew at ‘Chinese Pace’

Helder Marinho and Iuri Dantas-Bloomberg, 11/17/09

Brazil’s economy is expanding at a “Chinese pace” and quarter-on-quarter growth may have quickened to an annualized rate of about 9 percent in the July to September period, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.

Lula, in his weekly newspaper column, said the country’s $233 billion of international reserves have brought stability that guarantees funding for investment in social programs and infrastructure.

“Among several indicators that resulted from this highly favorable scenario, I can cite the surplus, in a year of crisis, of 1 million government-registered jobs and third-quarter gross domestic product, which should register growth at a Chinese pace of about 9 percent,” Lula wrote.

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