The French Foreign Minister will be in Brasilia on Wednesday and in São Paulo on Thursday to politically “relaunch” the relationship between France and Brazil following the election of new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Diplomatic relations had deteriorated sharply under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, in particular in 2019 when the Brazilian head of state and one of his ministers launched harsh criticism against French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte.
"Embodying the revival"
Emmanuel Macron had criticized Brazil's management of the fires in the Amazon.
This had crystallized the friction and marked a contrast with the very strong ties maintained under Lula's first presidency.
Catherine Colonna's visit will be the minister's first trip to the country, a diplomatic source told reporters.
His predecessor Jean-Yves Le Drian visited the country in July 2019.
"The objective is to embody (...) the relaunch of our bilateral relationship with this major partner"
, explained the diplomatic source.
The French president, who met on January 26 with his Brazilian counterpart, should also make the trip on an undisclosed date.
“All-round cooperation”
has never been interrupted, the diplomatic source stressed.
“But indeed, these last four years have not been up to the level of the relations that we must have”
with Brazil.
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Catherine Colonna will notably meet President Lula and his counterpart Mauro Vieira to discuss
"priority areas"
, including environmental issues and cross-border cooperation, said this source.
France shares its longest land border (700 km along French Guiana) with this country.
New issues
In São Paulo, the country's major economic and financial center, the Minister will recall the importance of the bilateral relationship: France is the third largest foreign investor in Brazil, with 32 billion dollars in investments.
It is also the first foreign employer with 500,000 Brazilian employees employed in French companies.
It was in 2006, under Jacques Chirac and Luiz Inacio Lula, that France and Brazil launched an ambitious strategic partnership.
“Brazil had been recognized as a global player and a legitimate candidate for a seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council
,” according to the website of the French Embassy in Brazil.
Two years later, an action plan had been signed.
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This partnership affects all areas: military, space, energy, economic, educational, cross-border, development aid in third countries, cross-border cooperation between French Guiana and the State of Amapa.
But it must also be modernized with new issues including the fight against global warming.
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