With a new Embassy in Malawi, Brazil now has diplomatic representation in 38 African countries

Brazil will be establishing its 38^th embassy on the African Continent.  It will be in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, a country on the west coast of Africa, and will begin operating in June.  The information was provided by the general under-secretary for Africa and the Middle East, Paulo Cordiero, who visited the Lula Institute on May 5.

With the opening of the new Embassy, Brazil will have, along with Russia, the fourth largest diplomatic presence in Africa according to information from the Itamaraty.  The United States (with 49 missions), China (48) and France (46) head the list.

According to Cordeiro, Brazil’s focus will be to improve the infrastructure of the existing representation facilities, rather than increase the number of embassies on the continent.  “There are still important countries without representation, like Uganda.  But first we need to consolidate the facilities where we are present,” he said.

Strengthening relationships with countries in the Southern Hemisphere, principally with those on the African Continent was a foreign policy priority of the Lula Administration, representing a change in the paradigm compared to previous governments.  The former president made 33 presidential visits to the African Continent and opened 19 new Embassies.  And he pushed for the creation of the South America/Africa Summit (ASA), the installation of an office of the Brazilian Agricultural and Livestock Research Company (EMBRAPA) in Ghana; an anti-retrovirus manufacturing plant in Mozambique, a model-farm for the production of cotton in Mali and the International Afro-Brazilian Lusophone University (UNILAB), with half of the student body reserved for African students. The government of President Dilma Rousseff is continuing to strengthen the relations between Brazil and Africa.

Now the head of the Lula Institute, the former president is helping to bring the social policies from his Administration to the less developed countries as a way to help reduce poverty and social inequality.  The Institute is a sponsor of the seminar on “A New Unified Focus to eradicate hunger in Africa”, organized by the African Union and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).  The meeting will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on June 30 and July 1 of this year.