MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Biden meets Rousseff, underlines the importance of a broader relationship with Brazil

Rousseff and Biden, all smiles and a new start: maybe the US is not a declining power after all and China still has a long way to march

US Vice-President Joe Biden wound up a visit to Brazil on Friday saying it was high time the two largest economies in the Americas became closer partners in trade, investment and energy. He made the statement following a ‘wide-ranging discussion’ with President Dilma Rousseff at the Planalto palace in Brasilia.

“We’re ready for a deeper, broader relationship across the board on everything from the military to education, trade and investment,” Biden told reporters after meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

“The president (Obama) wanted to make a statement of the importance that the relationship with Brazil has for us,” Biden said. “That is why the first state visit of the second administration is to your president. We are pleased that your president has accepted the invitation.”

“It is a sign of the respect we have for Brazil. I hope 2013 marks the beginning of a new era in the relations between our two countries,” he added.

The White House announced on Wednesday that Rousseff will make a state visit to Washington on October 23, the only one that US President Barack Obama is offering a foreign head of state this year, indicating the importance his administration is placing on closer ties with Latin America’s largest nation.

Biden told reporters he had a “wide-ranging discussion” with Rousseff who he said was a “leader who is laser-focused on addressing the needs of the Brazilian people. I now understand why President Obama considers her such a great partner.”

Relations between Washington and Brasilia have improved since Rousseff took office in 2011 and adopted a less ideological foreign policy than her predecessor, Lula da Silva, who befriended Iran and drew Brazil closer to Venezuela’s anti-US government under the late Hugo Chávez.

“The atmospherics are improving rapidly, in part because Brazil has taken a lower profile on some contentious global political issues like Iran,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice-president of the Americas Society, a business forum dedicated to fostering ties between the US and Latin America.

Brazil is also beginning to understand that China and other leading emerging nations are not yet substitutes for economic ties with the United States. “There seems to be a growing sense that the US may unnecessarily and gratuitously have been pushed away by the previous government, particularly as China slows and commodities markets soften,” Farnsworth said.

Some observers think it is not realistic to expect any dramatic move towards a full-fledged strategic partnership any time soon.

“Brazil has achieved the stature and recognition it enjoys today in part by maintaining its independence from the United States,” said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank in Washington. “It will want to keep some distance, while seeking to take advantage of what the United States has to offer.”