. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/19 
9 March 2010 
 
 (10-1252) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Aid for Trade Original:   English 
 
 
 
MAINSTREAMING AID FOR TRADE AT A THEMATIC LEVEL 
WORKSHOP ON AID FOR TRADE AND AGRICULTURE 
 
Communication from Brazil  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 5 March 2010,  is being circulated in advance of the 
Workshop on Aid for Trade and Agriculture of 17 March 2010.  
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Based on a firm commitment to put into practi ce international solidarity, Brazil has steadily 
established itself as a partner for South-South coope ration.  South-South cooperation is, thus, a top 
priority for the Brazilian Government.  The prin ciples guiding the Brazilian South-South cooperation 
programs include:  (a) no conditionality clauses;  (b) no interference in partner's internal affairs;  
(c) solidarity as the main motivation of the coopera tion;  (d) demand-driven approach;  (e) non-profit 
orientation;  and (f) focus on capacity development and on projects with wider scope.  
Over time, Brazil has been acquiring substa ntial technical knowledge, which has proven to 
be, in many instances, better adapted and applicable  to developing countries at relative low-cost, as 
compared to traditional aid.  Such singular profile , associated with its cultural and ethnic diversity, 
enables Brazil to be a pro-active actor in the development cooperation scenario.  
Since 2008, the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) has been to implementing a new 
strategy for Brazil's South-South cooperation focu sing on "structuring" projects/programs.  These 
larger projects/programs are geared  towards entailing many advantages for the partner country, such 
as deeper impact on the targeted public of the coope ration, and more sustainability of the technical 
cooperation outcomes.  Secondly, such approach facilitates the mobilization of a wider range of 
Brazilian institutions for the implementation of the different components of the projects.  From the 
current list of "structuring" projects, it is wort h mentioning, firstly, the "demonstration units" in 
Senegal (rice production), Mali (Cotton production under the "Cotton-4" mechanism), and Haiti 
(diversified crops), supported by EMBRAPA (Br azilian Agricultural Research Corporation) and 
EMATER (Enterprise on Technical Assistance and Ru ral Extension).  The projects in Senegal and 
Mali have a regional approach.  Each of  these units are budgeted around US$5 million. 
 
With East Timor, Brazil has negotiated a progr am aimed at contributing to promote food and 
nutritional security, through four vectors:  agricu lture, school meals, fisheries and food marketing and 
distribution.  In the case of school meals, the approach of the Brazilian cooperation includes the 
training of teachers, parents and people involved in the preparation and distribution of meals, as well as the setting up of a legal framework for the deve lopment of a "School Meal System" inspired and 
guided by guidelines for a healthy diet.  A proj ect to support the setting up of a "Food Purchase 
Program" is also envisaged.  It will be primarily di rected to school meals, but could also cover other 
local public demands, such as hospitals, nurseries and prisons.  In the specific field of food production WT/COMTD/AFT/W/19 
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  and distribution, the Brazilian cooperation to E ast Timor envisages initiatives to link the support 
provided to agriculture and fisheries, to the formati on of strategic stocks to be used in case of food 
insecurity.  Support will be also provided to the struct uring of local and regional food supply networks 
(local fairs and food markets).  
Although the bilateral South-South technical coope ration is a priority for the Brazilian foreign 
policy and will continue to be so in the future, A BC believes that triangular partnerships are valuable 
mechanisms to strengthen the impact of developmen t initiatives, as far as the differences in terms of 
practices and procedures between the partners are mutually recognized and duly adjusted.  Brazil's 
comparative advantages in South-South coopera tion offer very an ideal mix with traditional 
North-South cooperation. 
 
Triangular cooperation is gaining momentum in the current agenda of Brazilian relationship 
with developed countries and intern ational organizations.  Last year, Presidents Lula da Silva and 
President Barack Obama discussed joint Brazilian and American initiatives in Africa (health and 
agriculture).  The Brazilian Pr esident and the Prime Minister of Japan also agreed upon the 
implementation of a triangular program in Mozambi que, in the area of agriculture.  Other triangular 
schemes have also been approved and are being implem ented with Germany, France and Italy.  In all 
these triangular partnerships Brazil mobilizes both its technical and financial resources. 
 
The new triangular cooperation programs in nego tiation between Brazil and Japan and Brazil 
and the United States in the areas of agriculture  and health in Africa are based on a broader 
framework, with the intention of reaching struct ural actions aimed at bringing about local 
development processes.  The experience drawn fro m those initiatives could be transformed in case 
studies for the identification of more effective mo dels of triangular coope ration, which could be 
evaluated as a contribution to the general deba te on how to improve development cooperation. 
 
At the Food Security Summit, held last year at  FAO Headquarters, President Lula has invited 
the Ministers of Agriculture from African countries to attend a meeting in Brazil and be acquainted 
with the Brazilian experiences on tropical agriculture.  President Lula has expressed his willingness to 
provide cooperation in agriculture to all interested African countries.  
In the areas of agriculture and food security, ABC coordinates and provides financial support 
to 95 projects in 17 African countries and in 18 Lati n American and Caribbean countries, with a total 
budget of around US$30 million.   
 
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