MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil and Argentina considering joint arms manufacturing

Brazil and Argentina are considering the joint manufacturing of different types of arms both for regional defense and for export, according to the Buenos Aires press. Next Friday Brazilian president Lula da Silva will make an official visit to Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and one of the several accords to be signed refers to the “production for defense”.

Brazil has a long established arms industry which includes ground, air and sea equipment plus incipient missiles and a satellite launching pad in the north of the country next to the equator line. Argentina on the other hand has had an erratic experience dating back to mid XXth century with ups and downs and a strong development of missile technology, dismantled during the President Carlos Menem years, and nuclear energy. This defense production accord and several others relating to scientific, technological, space and nuclear cooperation were ironed out during a seven hours meeting of Argentine and Brazilian staff in Rio do Janeiro over the weekend. Presidents Lula da Silva and Cristina Fernandez are also schedule to talk about the current Doha round global trade negotiations and the latest drafts for a possible trade summit sometime in late March. According to Argentina's International Economic Relations Secretary Alfredo Chiaradia there are still "170 contentious issues" pending contrary to the interests of agriculture exporting countries such as Argentina and Brazil. The Buenos Aires press speculates there could be an official statement from Mercosur on the WTO trade talks. Other items in the bilateral agenda are the coming Rio Group summit in the Dominican Republic, which was shunned by Mr. Kirchner but that Mrs. Kirchner in her international relations push wants to signal a strong Argentine presence; the South American presidents summit scheduled to take place in Bogota, Colombia at the end of the month and which the Brazilian diplomacy is interested in promoting and finally the South-South summit between Mercosur, South Africa and India leaders that has been programmed for mid 2008 in Buenos Aires.