US-BRAZIL MEETING ON THIRD COUNTRY AID COOPERATION

UNCLAS STATE 043311


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AID ECON
SUBJECT: US-BRAZIL MEETING ON THIRD COUNTRY AID COOPERATION


1. SUMMARY. On April 16, USAID and State met with the head
of Brazil,s Cooperation Agency (ABC),Marco Farani, to
discuss development assistance cooperation in third
countries, as a part of the U.S-Brazil Economic Partnership
Dialogue (EPD). Both sides provided overviews of their
development assistance programs, focusing the majority of the
discussion on Haiti and Africa. See action request in para

9. END SUMMARY


2. On April 16, USAID Acting Assistant Administrator for
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC),Deborah
Kennedy-Iraheta, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Africa, Franklin Moore, and State Department Deputy Assistant
Secretary, Christopher McMullen, hosted the head of Brazil
ABC, Marco Farani, to discuss ideas for development
cooperation in third countries. The USG was represented by
17 staff from USAID and State,s Latin America, Africa and
Economics bureaus, and one representative from USDA.
Minister Farani was accompanied by Brazilian DCM Carlos Abreu
and staff from the Brazilian Embassy.


3. Brazilian DCM Carlos Abreu opened the meeting for the
Brazilian side by thanking the United States for setting up
the meeting on development cooperation, which he said has
become one of the most important issues on the EPD agenda.
Farani presented an overview of ABC, noting that his staff
included about 110 people currently, but he anticipated that
he would be getting an additional 30-40 staff by June 2009.
Because of its small size, ABC works very closely with
Brazilian technical agencies and focuses much of their
development efforts on capacity development in priority
sectors for the host-government.


4. In Haiti, Brazil is focusing on three new programs: 1)
establishment of a model farm by Brazil,s agricultural
research agency (EMBRAPA) to develop and train Haitians in
optimum farming practices; 2) establishment of a center for
vocational and technical training through Brazil,s technical
training agency (SENAI); and 3) engineering projects
(including a hydroelectric plant) to be carried out by a
250-strong engineering contingent attached to Brazil,s
MINUSTAH peacekeeping forces. Brazil will fund the first two
projects at USD $12 million over the next three years, but is
still looking for financing for the infrastructure projects
(which might run to $50-100 million). The GOB has two ABC
staff in Haiti. Farani recounted the success that a famous
Brazilian musician, Carlinhos Brown, had in rebuilding the
slum where he,d grown up in Salvador, Bahia, and said that
Brown had expressed interest in exploring a similar project
in Haiti, working with Haitian performers.


5. Kennedy-Iraheta noted that USAID had programs in 108
countries around the world, with Colombia and Haiti being the
largest in LAC. She told Farani that priority sectors for
USAID LAC are security, job creation, and ICT (internet and
telecommunications). Based on Brazil,s projects in Haiti,
she saw food security, tropical agriculture and
energy/climate change as possible areas to explore
cooperation. Farani suggested that as a starting point, the
U.S. and Brazil begin drafting a proposal for a specific
joint project in a designated country. In addition to the
practical benefits of working together on the ground, he said
that cooperation between the U.S. and Brazil was also
symbolically important. Farani noted that an ABC mission
would be in Haiti at the end of April.


6. Following the discussion on LAC, Farani described
Brazil,s work in Africa, where Brazil has 18 programs,
including an EMPRAPA representative in Accra, Ghana. Farani
highlighted ABC,s collaboration with Embassy Brasilia in
developing a USAID ) EMBRAPA food security proposal for
Mozambique and USAID noted that they,d received the proposal
from Ambassador Sobel. USAID DAA Moore described USAID
Africa priority sectors as health (specifically HIV/AIDS and
malaria),food security and climate change. Moore noted that
the USAID food security and climate change strategies were
still in development. Farani stated that Brazil was working
with the Government of Mali to establish a model farm for
cotton cultivation in four countries in West Africa, and
Moore, noting that USAID had its own cotton project in the
same region, suggested the two countries discuss
collaboration.


7. In summing up the meeting, Kennedy-Iraheta stated that
she would ask USAID,s Mission Director in Haiti to invite
the Brazilian assessment team to a discussion of activities
on the ground. Of particular interest might be &quick
impact projects8 that could be identified for the Brazilian
engineering team in MINUSTAH. Kennedy-Iraheta also
recommended trilateral discussions for cooperation between
the US, Brazil, and Mozambique, perhaps beginning with the
upcoming visit of a delegation from Mozambique to Brazil.
Farani proposed setting up a working group on Mozambique in
Brasilia to continue the discussion. Finally,
Kennedy-Iraheta suggested that the US and Brazil also explore
areas for cooperation in East Timor.


8. In closing, it was suggested that the U.S. and Brazil
could set up pilot projects to begin our work together in
third countries. Haiti and Mozambique could be the pilot
countries in Latin America and Africa respectively. DCM
Abreu proposed a MOU between the U.S. and Brazil for
cooperation in third countries (text forwarded to Brasilia by
e-mail on April 17). DCM McMullen suggested that we could
have a discussion on the MOU at the next EPD.


9. Action Request: Washington agencies (State, USDA, and
USAID) will continue to discuss the USAID-EMBRAPA Mozambique
food security proposal with each other and with posts.
Washington welcomes posts, views on cooperation between
Brazil and the US in development assistance. In particular,
we solicit suggestions from Port-au-Prince and Maputo as to
specific steps we might be able to take to foster greater
cooperation, as well as challenges or issues that greater
cooperation might entail.


CLINTON