MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hague in Brazil for a three-day visit to reaffirm close links and Strategic Dialogue

The foreign secretary is scheduled to meet his counterpart Luiz Alberto Figuereido in Brasilia

Foreign Secretary William Hague arrived in Brazil for a three-day visit to further the strong and growing partnership between the UK and Latin Americas leading economy. This is Mr. Hague's second visit for a series of meetings and events which started at Manaus where he visited the Arena Amazonia stadium, host of England's first 2014 World Cup match against Italy on June 14.

 From Manaus Hague flies to the capital Brasilia for the third Strategic Dialogue with his Brazilian counterpart, to discuss international security issues, human rights, cyber and internet governance, commercial opportunities, international development and progress on the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement.

The Foreign Secretary will also open an event at Rio Branco Institute on the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative1 (*); which is one of his top priorities.

His final stop will be in Sao Paulo, where he will meet with Brazilian Chevening and Science Without Borders alumni, at a reception dedicated to celebrate the links between the UK and Brazil in education.

During his time in Sao Paulo, Hague will take part in a round table with the Lula da Silva Institute, with the objective of expanding UK-Brazil collaboration on development in Africa, including discussions around the post-2015 Development agenda.

He will also meet with the Governor of São Paulo to discuss forthcoming objectives for the UK-São Paulo Working Group, including on mutual priorities such as infrastructure and education.

Foreign Secretary arrived from Colombia where he met President Juan Manuel Santos, ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Finance.

(*) Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative – launched on 29 May 2012 by the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, it aims to strengthen and support international efforts to respond to sexual violence in conflict - including by enhancing the capacity of countries, institutions, and communities to support survivors and end impunity for perpetrators. A key part of this initiative has been to provide expertise in responding to sexual violence in conflict through the creation of a multidisciplinary Team of Experts (the ToE).

Chevening Scholarships are the British government’s global scholarship program funded by the Foreign Office and partners. The scholarships are awarded to students of excellence in their fields and have a potential for leadership.

Finally Science without Borders is a Brazilian Government scholarship program which aims to send 101,000 Brazilian students on undergraduate sandwich courses, PhD sandwich courses, full PhDs and post-docs to study in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and creative industry subjects (which focus on technological and innovative development) at universities around the world.

In total the UK has placed almost 5000 Brazilian undergraduate students on SwB UK. The total number of SwB students who will have studied in the UK since the program launched in 2012 is almost 6000. Students from over 100 universities across Brazil have been placed on the UK undergraduate program at more than 80 UK universities so far. SwB represents an opportunity which is about far more than numbers and student recruitment. SwB has the power to not only increase mobility between the UK and Brazil but also to develop many more partnerships and collaborations between Brazil and the UK which will help cement deep long-lasting links and bring tangible benefits to both countries.