The Hon Stephen Smith MP
Media Release
25 August, 2009
I spent today Tuesday, 25 August in Brasilia on my first official visit to Brazil. This is the first visit by an Australian Foreign Minister to Brazil since 2006.
I had a productive meeting with my Brazilian counterpart, External Affairs Minister Celso Amorim.
I had a productive meeting with my Brazilian counterpart, External Affairs Minister Celso Amorim.
I was delighted to rekindle with him a friendship which began with his successful visit to Australia in August 2008.
Minister Amorim and I reviewed progress in bilateral relations and discussed the draft Plan of Action for an Enhanced Partnership between Australia and Brazil. We agreed that officials should now finalise the Plan for consideration by Prime Minister Rudd and President Lula in the near future.
The Plan of Action aims to expand and strengthen Australia’s links with Brazil in a wide range of areas, including trade and investment, agriculture, mining, energy, science and technology, education, sport, culture and people-to-people links.
A measure of the growing importance of Australia’s links with Brazil is the growth in bilateral trade and investment.
Brazil is Australia’s largest trading partner in South America. The five year average trend growth in goods trade since 2003 has been over 20per cent and growth in bilateral trade in 2008 over 2007 was over 50%. Total two-way merchandise trade reached exceeded A$2.5 billion in 2008‑09.
Australia and Brazil have strong people to people links. In addition to our strong trade and investment relationship, the number of Brazilians coming to study in Australia continues to increase with over 16,000 Brazilian students enrolling in Australian education institutions in 2008.
Brazil is now an important power in world affairs. In addition to valuable discussions with Minister Amorim, I discussed with Finance Minister Guido Mantega the challenges both our countries are facing during the global economic crisis. We also discussed our shared and ongoing interests in the WTO, the Cairns Group, and the Doha Round.
As members of the G20, Ministers Amorim and Mantega and I discussed priorities for the forthcoming G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.
I was also pleased to meet Brazil’s Minister of Sport, Orlando Silva, who updated me on Brazil’s hosting of the 2014 World Cup. We discussed the Rio de Janeiro bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games and Australia’s bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.
Today I was pleased to visit a local Australian Direct Aid Program (DAP), the non-government organisation Obras Sociais Jeronimo Candinho which is based in Sobradinho, a satellite city on the outskirts of Brasilia. Run by a team of dedicated volunteers, the project assists low income families, children and youth by providing social, educational and vocational training. Under DAP the Australian Embassy in Brasilia funded the purchase of school desks and stainless steel sinks for the school kitchen.
Media inquiries: Mr Smith's office 02 6277 7500 - Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555
