EU-Brazil Summit Aims To Consolidate Strategic Partnership

The EU and Brazil will meet at the highest level on the occasion of the 5th EU-Brazil Summit that will take place in Brussels on 4 October.

The Summit’s agenda covers cover global, regional and bilateral issues. Leaders will be discussing, among other issues, climate change and the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, the international financial and economic situation and the G20 process, cooperation in the multilateral context and human rights, energy, Mercosur and the on-going negotiations for an EU-Mercosur Association Agreement, and investment and trade.

Leaders will also exchange views on the political situation in some regions of the world, like North Africa and the Middle East.

According to President Van Rompuy, “Brazil is an important partner for the European Union and this summit will take our relationship one step further. Our Partnership goes well beyond the bilateral agenda. It’s about working together to take leadership and exert responsibility on regional and global issues, and in multilateral fora. I look forward to building common ground with the new Brazilian President to address joint challenges such as climate change and economic governance.”

In the same vein President Barroso said, “After having consolidated our high-level relationship with Brazil these last five years, we need now to move from strategic partnership to strategic global action. I am looking forward to discuss with President Rousseff how to deepen our bilateral cooperation in areas as diverse as education, culture, industry or transport. But Brazil is more than a strategic partner – Brazil is a like-minded country with which we want to work together on issues of global concern such as sustainable development, climate change and our G20 agenda.”

Main Summit deliverables will be

• EU-Brazil Air Transport Agreement

• Joint Programme on Culture 2011-2014.

• Letter of Intent to Facilitate Tourism Flows between the EU and Brazil in the low seasons.

• Letter of Intent of a Structured Dialogue on civil space cooperation.

• Letter of Intent on Co-operation between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil.

The Summit will also be anopportunity to take stock of progress made in the implementation of the Joint Action Plan (JAP), established in the framework of the Strategic Partnership, and to endorse the JAP prepared for the 2012-2014 period.