Defence Minister Celso Amorim said on Wednesday Brazil’s growing need to protect its borders, the Amazon rainforest, and massive offshore oil discoveries would lead it to gradually increase defence spending by a quarter to reach roughly 2% of the country’s GDP.
Brazil will boost its military presence in the Amazon region to protect its huge natural resources from any external threat, Defence Minister Celso Amorim told the Senate on Thursday.
Brazil will get US advanced technology transfers if it buys Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet to upgrade its air force, visiting US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday.
Brazilian Defence Minister Celso Amorim and his visiting US peer Leon Panetta considered an increase in cooperation in many different areas including cyber-security, science and military technology and humanitarian assistance during a bilateral meeting held in Brasilia.
Argentina and Brazil agreed to work on a common defence agenda underlining the importance of strengthening Unasur and working to ensure that Latin America is a peace zone thus sending a strong message to the UK on the Falklands/Malvinas issue.
Foreign Secretary William Hague begins Wednesday a two-day visit to Brazil which according to Brazilian sources will mark the beginning of a strategic dialogue between the two countries.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed a bill exempting defence companies from taxes for five years. The measure is geared to prop the defence industry and reduce the share of imported equipment for the armed forces.
Brazil's Defense minister said on Thursday that Haiti's peacekeeping force of 12,000 soldiers and police, known as MINUSTAH, will begin a gradual withdrawal aimed at turning security over to the Haitians, but not imperiling the stability achieved.
Argentina and Brazil defence ministers confirmed the two countries “strategic alliance” and subscribed a bilateral cooperation declaration emphasizing on the South Atlantic as “a Peace Zone, free of nuclear weapons”.
Brazil’s Minister of Defence Celso Amorim is in Buenos Aires for several scheduled meetings this week with his Argentine counterpart Arturo Puricelli and to establish closer ties in defence issues in the framework of Unasur (Union of South American nations).