Brazil could position itself as one of the five world powers in energy, food security and geopolitics – economy minister

More advanced nations are reassessing relations with Brazil because the country could become the only world economy in the G-20, the BRICS and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said Thursday (6) the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.

He attended a ceremony at the Planalto Palace to announce the delivery of the first memorandum, a more than 1,000-page report on how well Brazil conforms to practices adopted by OECD member countries.

“It’s almost another gateway to the UN Security Council,” Guedes commented.

He added that Brazil could position itself as one of the five world powers in the energy and food security field and also from a geopolitical perspective, writes Valor.

The conquest of a permanent seat in the UN Security Council has been one of the pillars of the PT government’s foreign policy.

The first memorandum points out that Brazil has already complied with 108 of the 230 instruments that govern its accession to the OECD.

The organization is currently assessing another 45. Thus, there are 77 missing.

“Mathias Cormann indicates that Brazil is far ahead of the other candidates,” the minister said, referring to the OECD Secretary-General.

From the moment the first memorandum is submitted, an interaction begins between Brazil and OECD partners until accession.

This process would typically take another two to five years, Guedes said. “We are confident that it will be significantly shortened,” he said.

According to the economy minister, described by his cabinet colleague Ciro Nogueira as “the best minister in the world,” Brazil has never been more respected abroad.

PANDEMIC AND RECESSION

He said the country’s performance is being re-evaluated as it has vaccinated a large part of its population and gone through the waves of Covid-19 and recession.

“We are growing,” he said. “Except for Japan, we will have lower inflation than the G-7 countries.

He said Brazil had created more jobs than the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined.

Foreign Minister Carlos França said accessing the OECD is an old dream of Itamaraty. “Deepening relations with the OECD will help us eliminate our bottlenecks and inefficiencies,” he said.

The country will have access to the world’s best practices in areas that affect the economy and the environment, nuclear energy, and others.

He said this would enable the government and the private sector to implement the necessary internal reforms.

DEFORESTATION AND UKRAINE

The chancellor said that Brazil’s accession to the OECD is also essential for the organization. He said that the country has much to contribute with its environmental policies and its economic and commercial weight.

In the future, he said, the country can try to set the agenda and define the standards and rules of the OECD.

Member countries are reportedly willing to demand actual deforestation reductions, not just announcements of targets, to accept Brazil.

Attention is also drawn to the country’s political alignment in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The Brazilian government’s decision to abstain from the Unesco vote condemning the invasion is said by Western commentators and the international left to have dire consequences.

From today’s perspective, it might look that way, but the world and the global rules of the game are changing so rapidly that it remains to be seen who will hold the more substantial cards tomorrow.

The West, which may have already passed its zenith but is the only one who has not yet noticed, or the emerging energy and food superpower Brazil, which will very soon be in a position to decide to whom it supplies food and (clean) electricity and to whom it doesn’t.

One only has to keep in mind what the Saudis and OPEC+ have just done with the wishes (orders?) of Biden: flushed down the toilet.