By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 8 2009 (IPS)

With the announcement of a multi-billion-dollar military technology-sharing deal with France, Brazil is projecting itself as a future regional military supplier, while sending out a clear signal about the multipolar focus of its foreign policy.

The choice of scenario for what they described as a "strategic alliance" could not have been more symbolic for presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Against a soundtrack of military marches, the two leaders clinched their latest agreement in the Brazilian capital on Sept. 7 – Independence Day in Brazil.

Their meeting formalised the accords reached in December, on Sarkozy's first visit, when the Brazilian government announced that it would buy five submarines from France – including Latin America's first nuclear-powered submarine – to be built at a new shipyard in Itaguai in the southeastern state of Rio de Janeiro.

Also announced on that occasion was the purchase of 50 French EC-725 transport helicopters, to be jointly assembled at the Helibras factory in Itajubá in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The EC-725 Cougars are made by Eurocopter – a subsidiary of European aerospace giant EADS – which holds a 45 percent stake in Brazil's Helibras.

Also confirmed Monday was a final element in the agreements, estimated to be worth around 12.5 billion dollars: the start of negotiations for the sale to Brazil of 36 Rafale combat jets made by French firm Dassault Aviation, which could be finalised in October, according to a joint communiqué issued by the two governments.

The announcement indicated that fierce lobbying by Sweden's Saab, which hoped to sell Brazil its Gripen NG, and by the U.S. Boeing, which was pushing its F/A-18 Super Hornet, had fallen flat, putting an end to a lengthy contest that had dragged on since 1998, under the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003).

Brazil's main argument for choosing the French company was that unlike manufacturers from other countries – like Germany in the case of the submarines and the U.S. in the case of the combat jets – France not only offered the sales but the transfer of technology as well, according to Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

"We decided to negotiate the purchase of the Rafale's because while the airplane is important to us, what is really important is having the technology to be able to build the plane," said Lula, standing next to his guest, Sarkozy.

According to professor of international relations Daniel Castelán, the transfer of technology will help make it possible for Brazil to live up to its aspiration of becoming a future military supplier not only for Latin America but for other regions as well.

Towards that end, the agreements with France will allow Brazil not only to build – and to learn the secrets of making – the military equipment, but also "to sell it jointly," as Sarkozy pointed out.

"The fact that the submarines and helicopters are being built in Brazilian territory signals a strategy of producing for South America in the future," Castelán, a researcher at the South American Political Observatory (OPSA) and a professor at the private Candido Mendes University, said in an interview with IPS.

Fernando Gabeira, a federal lawmaker for the Green Party (PV) and a member of the congressional commissions on foreign relations and defence, reached a similar conclusion.

"Brazil could have bought the American fighters, but not their technology, because that would have depended on authorisation by the U.S. Congress," Gabeira told IPS.

"The French understood that, and offered all of the technology so that Brazil could also produce the planes or submarines," he added.

However, Gabeira also remarked that "Brazil has the aim of becoming a producer of military equipment, but where are the wars" that would justify such a major upgrading of Brazil's own military capabilities? He pointed out that besides the planes, helicopters and submarines, South America's giant also has a fleet of warships.

Lula, on the other hand, believes the answer lies in the "new independence" that the discovery of enormous oil reserves will offer this country, set to become one of the world's top oil producers.

According to the president, the new investments in the defence industry are justified by "a question of sovereignty," to defend two important areas in this country of 190 million people: the Amazon rainforest and an 800-sq-km area of offshore oil reserves in the Atlantic ocean, off of Brazil's southeast coast, which hold an estimated 50 to 80 billion barrels of crude, found seven km below the surface of the ocean.

The oilfields, which were discovered in 2007 and have not yet been explored, lie beneath a layer of salt up to two-km thick. According to government projections, they could represent up to six times the country's proven reserves of 14 billion barrels.

Lula pointed out that oil has long been a motive for wars and conflicts. To avoid them, he said, although his government puts a priority on peace, it is also laying the foundations to make Brazil a "world power" within 15 or 20 years.

According to Gabeira, that aim reflects "a continuation of the policy of the military (who governed Brazil from 1964 to 1985) to make this country a major power, but now in a totally different world, where wars are not waged the way they used to be."

In his view, "Brazil should strengthen its role as a 'soft power' rather than seeking to become a 'hard power'." He admitted, however, that this is still not an easy argument to make in this country.

The alliance between Brazil and France has already begun to bear fruit for Brasilia at the international level. Sarkozy reaffirmed Paris's support for Brazil's aspiration to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and in the Group of Eight (G8) most powerful countries, which he said was "fair."

But Castelán said that besides the aim of strengthening Brazil's defence industry, the alliance with France should be considered part of a broader foreign policy strategy guided by "a strong multipolar focus on the part of the Lula administration."

That "strategic vision," he said, is based on the "search for military and defence cooperation not just with the United States," at a time when the Brazilian Foreign Ministry has complained about the increase in the U.S. military presence in Colombia, which is lending the U.S. armed forces seven military bases.

The idea is to forge more multilateral ties as a "counterbalance to U.S. hegemony" in the sphere of the military as well as trade, the analyst said.

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