IBSA - Brazil

South Africa-Brazil Trade Partnership Hits Potholes

As the five members of the BRICS group of emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – tighten ranks and seek to expand their global influence, the inevitable trade spats have begun.

Brazil’s Economic Model Offers Ray of Hope

As governments struggle to find ways out of the persistent global financial crisis, Brazil’s development model offers an alternative path to recovery and growth, according to some economists and politicians.

Brazil Forging Strategic Alliance with Africa

The Brazilian government of Dilma Rousseff is taking firm steps towards stronger relations with Africa, such as the creation of a special fund to finance development projects together with multilateral lenders like the World Bank.

Valerie Amos Credit: World Economic Forum/CC BY-SA 2.0

U.N. Taps Brazil’s Experience in Humanitarian Aid

On her first visit to Brazil, the United Nations humanitarian affairs chief Valerie Amos stressed the need to take advantage of this country’s experience in disaster response and the fight against poverty.

The G20 is not representative of the WTO because the poorest countries have no say in setting the trade agenda. Credit: Kim Cloete/IPS

BRICS Ministers Say New Trade Narrative Sinks Development

Trade ministers of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa – say that at the G20 trade ministerial summit later this month in Mexico they will try to ensure that attempts by industrialised countries to frame a new trade agenda do not drown development-led trade liberalisation and the World Trade Organization talks.

Pipelines that transport grains from the Suape port in Northeast Brazil. In the background, Brazil

The Downside of China’s Lifeline to Brazil

Over the last decade, China has become Brazil’s main trading partner and source of foreign investment. But this apparent lifeline at a time of global crisis could actually aggravate longstanding problems faced by Latin America’s biggest economy.

South Africa

Brazil and South Africa Hit Hard by Exchange Rate Complications

Brazil and South Africa have experienced a widespread contraction of their manufacturing industries, with the latter suffering massive unemployment as well, thanks to the rampant volatility and misalignment of dominant global currencies like the dollar, trade experts from the two countries say.

China’s trade minister Chen Deming opposed sanctions against Iran when rising oil prices were hitting BRICS. Credit: World Economic Forum/CC-BY-SA-2.0

BRICS Tighten United Front

At their summit in the Indian capital on Thursday, leaders of the coalition known as BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – made several noteworthy decisions that experts say hint at the converging of economic and political interests of a disparate regional bloc.

Opinions Divided Over Chevron Trial in Brazil

Opinions are divided in Brazil over the prosecution of U.S. oil giant Chevron for two oil spills. While some argue that the legal action is an over-reaction triggered by nationalism, others say it is necessary to show that Brazil is serious about protecting the environment.

India Affirms Role as Developing World’s Pharmacy

By allowing a generic manufacturer to produce a patented cancer drug at a fraction of its current cost, India has declared that it is not about to abandon its role as the ‘pharmacy of the world’s poor'.

IBSA has denounced the ongoing attempts to craft an exclusive, plurilateral agreement to liberalise trade in services.  Credit: Servaas van den Bosch/IPS

An Assault on Multilateral Trade Negotiations

India, Brazil, and South Africa, the international grouping for promoting international cooperation among the three countries known as IBSA, along with China and several other developing countries, have denounced the ongoing attempts to craft an exclusive, plurilateral agreement to liberalise trade in services without concluding the multilateral trade negotiations of the World Trade Organization.

Oceans Will Not Survive ‘Business as Usual’

Our oceans face a grim outlook in the coming decades. Ocean acidification, loss of marine biodiversity, climate change, pollution and over-exploitation of resources all point to the urgent need for a new paradigm on caring for the earth’s oceans—"business as usual" is simply not an option anymore, experts say.

China is expanding loans to Latin America using the yuan instead of the dollar. Credit: Kit Gillet/IPS

Latin America, Testing Ground for Chinese Yuan

China is looking to Latin America to experiment with the yuan, or renminbi, to replace the dollar, taking advantage of the growth in Chinese trade and investment in this region. But because the volume is still insignificant, it is not yet clear what impact the currency will have on economies in the region.

BRAZIL: Miracle Mileage from a Hobbled Economy

In 2011, Brazil's economy grew by less than half the 7.5 percent it attained in 2010. However, this result would be miraculous in any other country with the barriers to productivity and competitiveness that prevail in Brazil.

BRAZIL: Providing Alternatives for Small-Scale Tobacco Farmers

The fall in world tobacco consumption, especially in industrialised nations, is a sign of the urgent need for producer countries like Brazil, China, India and the United States to offer their farmers alternatives to growing tobacco.

Emerging economies face developmental challenges but are also significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.  Credit: Zukiswa Zimela/IPS

TRADE: Small Steps towards Emission Reduction Deal

Emerging economies China, South Africa and Brazil have indicated their openness to legally-binding carbon emission reduction targets from 2020 during the United Nations climate change summit in Durban, South Africa.

Brazil Cannot Swim Against the Climate Current

With no meaningful proposals, and in the face of internal setbacks and an adverse international context, Brazil is largely unprepared to assume the leadership role expected of an environmental power at the Durban climate change conference.

Benedita Nascimento in Brazil's eastern Amazon jungle is one of the family farmers who guarantee food security in this country. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

Brazil Commits to Quality Food for All

Representatives of the Brazilian federal and municipal governments and of indigenous, black and riverbank communities and other groups that make the population of this country so diverse assumed a commitment to fight for "the human right to an adequate diet."

Dinner is served.  Credit: Claudius/IPS

BRAZIL: Proper Nutrition – the Next Food Challenge

Fighting malnutrition is not just about putting food on everyone's table every day, according to Brazil's Fourth National Conference on Food and Nutrition Security, meeting in the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia.

Giant papayas grown with the help of an underground reservoir in Laginhas, Pernambuco, in Brazil's arid Northeast. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

Brazil Takes the Fight Against Hunger Abroad

The Brazilian government is extending its fight against hunger to the world stage, by inaugurating a Centre of Excellence Against Hunger to transmit its positive experiences to other developing countries with the help of United Nations agencies.

Pediatrics waiting room at the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Rio de Janeiro.  Credit: Agência Brasil Marcello Casal Jr/EBr

Brazil’s Health System Inspires Abroad, Frustrates at Home

News that the government of South Africa was inspired by Brazil's health system in setting up its own universal coverage scheme might meet with scepticism in this South American country.

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