Foreign relations of Brazil

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Brazil
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Brazil

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Traditionally, Brazil has been a leader in the inter-American community and has played an important role in collective security efforts, as well as in economic cooperation in the Western Hemisphere. Brazil supported the Triple Entente in World War I after 1917 and the Allies in World War II after 1942. During World War II, its expeditionary force played a key role in the Allied victory at Monte Cassino in Italy. It is a party to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) and a member of the Organization of American States (OAS). Recently, Brazil has given high priority to expanding relations with its South American neighbors and is a founding member of the Amazon Pact, the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), and Mercosul (Mercosur in Spanish), an imperfect customs union including Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. Along with Argentina, Chile, and the United States, Brazil is one of the guarantors of the Peru-Ecuador peace process. Brazil is a charter member of the United Nations and participates in many of its specialized agencies. It has contributed troops to UN peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, the former Belgian Congo, Cyprus, Mozambique, Angola, and more recently East Timor and Haiti. Brazil has been a member of the UN Security Council nine times, most recently 2004-2005.

As Brazil's domestic economy has grown and diversified, the country has become increasingly involved in international politics and economics. The United States, western Europe, and Japan are primary markets for Brazilian exports and sources of foreign lending and investment. Brazil has also bolstered its commitment to nonproliferation through ratification of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), signing a fullscale nuclear safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), acceding to the Treaty of Tlatelolco, and becoming a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty encouraged the country, after trying to go nuclear, to turn back.

Recently, Brazil has been considerably reluctant to help in forming the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, leaving more controversial issues up to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Also at the World Trade Organization summits, Brazil has engaged eloquently in a debate against developed countries giving subsidies to their agricultural productions, which supposedly harms Brazil's ability to compete in the world market.

Brazil is also a member of the International Criminal Court, without a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98)

Disputes - international:

Two short sections of boundary with Uruguay are in dispute - Arroio Invernada (Arroyo de la Invernada) area of the Rio Quarai (Rio Cuareim) and the islands at the confluence of the Rio Quarai and the Uruguay River.
Brazil declared in 1986 the sector between 28°W to 53°W (Brazilian Antarctica (Antártica Brasileira) as its Zone of Interest (informal claim). It overlaps Argentine and British claims. [1][2][3]

Illicit drugs: Limited illicit producer of cannabis, minor coca cultivation in the Amazon region, mostly used for domestic consumption; government has a large-scale eradication program to control cannabis; important transshipment country for Bolivian, Colombian, and Peruvian cocaine headed for the United States and Europe; increasingly used by traffickers as a way station for narcotics air transshipments between Peru and Colombia; upsurge in drug-related violence and weapons smuggling.

United Nations Politics: Currently Brazil is seeking permanent representation on the Security Council. They are a member of the G4, an organization comprised of Brazil, Germany, Japan, and India, all nations who are currently seeking permanent representation. According to their plan the UN Security Council would be expanded beyond the current fifteen members to include twenty-five members. This would be the first time that permanent status has been extended to a South American nation and supporters of the G4 plan suggest that this will lead to greater representation of developing nations rather than the current major powers.