By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 28 2003 (IPS)

A Brazilian cabinet minister is in the Ukraine as part of the government’s mission to seek technology exchange with nations at a similar level of development that are more willing to cooperate than the industrialised North.

The aim of the Brazilian government is to reduce technological dependence, which is not only costly in economic terms, but also with regards to national sovereignty.

One of the goals is to forge ties with other emerging economies that are willing to transfer technology without imposing restrictions like the ones the United States attempted to introduce in a contract for using the Alcantara Launch Base.

The Alcantara base in northern Brazil will allow this country to gain a share of the international satellite launch market, Minister of Science and Technology Roberto Amaral told IPS in an interview just before he set out on a three-day visit to the Ukraine on Wednesday.

Amaral is a 62-year-old lawyer and political scientist who belonged to underground leftist groups opposed to Brazil’s 1964- 1985 military dictatorship, and later helped re-organise the Brazilian Socialist Party, of which he is now vice-president.

Q: What significance does the Ukraine have for Brazil’s technological development?

A: This visit to the Ukraine is aimed at broadening technology exchanges, a priority of Brazil’s new foreign policy, especially in the field of aerospace. We will also discuss cooperation in energy, informatics and biodiversity.

In addition, Brazil is interested in acquiring Ukrainian technology for producing gas turbines, which would enable us to join the club of countries capable of producing any kind of turbine, including airplane turbines. That would be of major significance to our economy, as we could increase our generation of thermoelectricity using natural gas.

Q: How would you describe the government of (leftist President) Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s new foreign policy in the field of technology?

A: The strategy is to intensify cooperation with countries at a similar level of development, like China, India, Russia, South Africa and the Ukraine, all of which, however, are more advanced than us in one area or another, and are willing to transfer technology, unlike the developed world, which refuses to do so.

We must seek out alternatives. For example, Brazil can produce its own aerospace technology, but it is a slow process, which could be accelerated through cooperation. In January 2002, we signed an agreement with the Ukraine on cooperation for the peaceful uses of outer space, as well as a memorandum between our space agencies for the use of Ukrainian carrier rockets at the Alcantara launch centre.

Now we will be discussing details for a joint commercial launcher programme using Ukrainian Cyclone-4 booster rockets to be launched from the Alcantara base, which will save the Ukraine 30 percent on the cost of previous launches. That will require investments by both countries, but it is an undertaking of mutual benefit, and without any restrictions that would violate the sovereignty of either country.

Q: The agreement differs from the contract with the United States, which was rejected by broad sectors in Brazil, including Congress?

A: Yes, the contract with the United States will be withdrawn, in order to go back and negotiate an accord that is different from the one approved by the previous Brazilian administration. We will propose new foundations for the agreement, which respect our sovereignty, and we will use the accord with the Ukraine as a model.

In the original contract, Washington imposed many restrictions to safeguard its technology in Alcantara. It also wanted, for example, to prohibit Brazil from using the revenues obtained from the lease to invest in its aerospace industry – an unacceptable restriction. That is one indication of the need for alternatives, for creating our own development process, in cooperation with countries that share similar interests.

Q: Is that also the case with digital TV?

A: Yes, we want to develop our own system (rather than choosing from the three available – U.S., European and Japanese – standards). We are starting to negotiate an alliance with China and other countries, but no accord has yet been drawn up. It is a commercial question, and a broader market, as in the case of Brazil added to the rest of Latin America, offers the project greater potential. For that reason, if a system is designed jointly with other countries, like China, we will have a much more competitive project.

Q: What will Brazil present at the coming World Summit of the Information Society?

A: We have a programme for digital inclusion, and another on free software development. But we are still lagging in the dissemination of information technology, due to the great social inequality in our country.

In Brasilia (the capital), for instance, we have indicators on average computer use and access to Internet that few countries can boast. But outside of the big urban centres, among the poor, the reality is quite different.

That gap reflects the high level of socioeconomic inequality. To narrow it, the Ministry of Science and Technology is promoting the installation of computers in all of Brazil’s public schools, and the Ministry of Communication is doing the same in the post offices, in order for all of the country’s municipalities to be connected to the worldwide web.

Q: Is the Lula administration worried about ”brain drain”?

A: Of course. Many Brazilian researchers are living abroad. But we will reduce that loss by creating conditions for them to say in the country, as part of a joint effort by the ministries of Science and Technology, and Education.

We are also implementing a plan in association with the universities and state governments, to create poles of development. One example of that effort is the Neuroscience Pole that we are setting up in Natal (the capital of the impoverished northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte), which will draw back Brazilian researchers now living overseas. The conditions in Natal, like the existence of a good primatology centre and a federal university, facilitate the creation of a pole of development there.

Q: What are the top priorities of your ministry?

A: The first is the development of human resources, which is fundamental in science. We’re doing well on that front. For example, the number of doctors has risen quickly. Around 6,000 now graduate every year, and we want to increase that number to 10,000 within the next four years.

Q: How do you see the prospects for scientific and technological development in Brazil?

A: In biotechnology we have created the Proteoma Network, the second phase of the study of the genome. (Brazil has already deciphered the DNA map of several bacteria and plants that are important to agriculture, and of several types of cancer in human beings).

We are also working on closer partnerships between universities and the business community, with a network of more than 100 institutions of higher learning.

One successful example of that is in the field of aerospace, which depended on state protection, since we lacked a private market in that area. Now we have incorporated the private sector, identifying the needs of companies, for products, for greater know- how in a specific activity, and making contact with the universities that can address that demand. It is difficult, but we have to move from a mentality of ”classic capital” to one of risk capital, which is inherent to the search for new technologies.

Q: President Lula promised to double public investment in science and technology.

A: We will go from the equivalent of one to two percent of Gross Domestic Product by 2006, which is the average spent by countries in the industrialised world, although we need more to narrow the gap.

But the state has limitations, and private sector participation in science and technology is very low, accounting for less than 20 percent, compared to over 80 percent in rich countries. What is lacking is a policy of incentives and of financing at lower interest rates.

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