•  rio de janeiro
• Friday, March 18, 2011
• Inter Press Service

The United States says its relations with Latin America must be 'an equal partnership' - a new vision or, at least, a new discourse that will have a chance to take more concrete shape during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Brazil this weekend.

Language is the first thing to change, and according to Clovis Brigagao, head of the Centre for Studies on the Americas, the terms used in the United States' references to Brazil have already begun to change, before the first official meeting has taken place between Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, in power for less than three months.

'Relations between the United States and Brazil, in any area, must be between equals and the scope of these relations is global,' Thomas Shannon, U.S. ambassador to Brasilia, told local magazine Isto E. Brigagao told IPS the pragmatic basis for the change of language is set out in a fact sheet on the U.S.-Brazil Economic Relationship, issued by the White House ahead of Obama's Mar. 19-20 visit to Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, before he goes on to Chile and El Salvador.

'The two largest economies and the two largest democracies in the Western hemisphere share one of the most important trade and economic relationships in the world. Brazil is our 10th largest trading partner,' the White House document says.

'Brazil is an emerging global player and economic powerhouse. With a 2010 GDP of more than two trillion dollars, Brazil is the seventh largest economy in the world and accounts for nearly 60 percent of South America’s total GDP,' the fact sheet says.

'Brazil's Central Bank is concerned that the country is growing too fast,' said Charles Shapiro, a senior coordinator of economic initiatives in Latin America for the U.S. State Department. 'It's a problem all of us would like to have,' he said.

Marcos Azambuja, deputy head of the Brazilian Centre for International Relations, told IPS Obama 'knows how to sell himself well,' and will no doubt make the most of the widespread interest in his visit, to meet his domestic goals.

Obama needs to show the U.S. electorate, which is cooling towards him, that he is capable of securing important agreements to shore up a weakened U.S. economy, and that he is popular in a country like Brazil, where half the population is black and Obama will be 'welcomed naturally and affectionately,' Azambuja said.

In Rio, Obama's activities will be unusual by the standard of his foreign visits. He will deliver a speech 'to the people of Brazil' from a central city square that will be open to the public, the U.S. embassy said. He will also visit a 'favela' or shanty town and the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer, the city's iconic landmark.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said: 'We are in a position to renew the relationship with the United States and raise it to a level of greater interaction, of cooperation for mutual benefit, that is multipolar in nature, based on the pursuit of development and global solutions.'

The cooperation he referred to is linked to strategic sectors. The social and political upheaval in the Arab world means it is vital for the United States to secure reliable sources of oil supply, for example.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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