ANGOLA-BRAZIL: Portuguese - the Common Language of Trade

[Harold F. Schiffman]

ANGOLA-BRAZIL: Portuguese - the Common Language of Trade

Mario de Queiroz


LISBON, Nov 13 (IPS) - Although separated by the Atlantic ocean, Angola
and Brazil are united by language and their centuries-long history as
Portuguese colonies, and trade between the two countries is booming as
never before. Brazil, Latin Americas giant, whose 188 million people and
8.5 million square kilometres represent more than half the area and
population of South America, appears determined to take over from Portugal
as chief investor in the group of African Countries of Portuguese Official
Language (PALOP).

In his less than five years in government, Brazilian President Luiz Incio
Lula da Silva has visited Africa seven times, easily outstripping his
predecessors Jos Sarney (1985-1990), Fernando Collor de Mello (1990-1992),
Itamar Franco (1992-1995) and Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003). South
Africa and Nigeria are also important trading partners of Brazils in
Africa, but the PALOP group of countries, made up of Angola, Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tom and Prncipe, has become one of the
top priorities in Brazils political and economic diplomacy.

Angola, with an area of 1.25 million square kilometres and over 15 million
people, is Africas second biggest oil-producer after Nigeria. The
destruction of almost all of its towns and cities, during the 1961-1974
struggle for independence from Portugal and the 1975-2002 civil war,
turned it into a vast field of business opportunities.

Trade relations between this West African country and Brazil started to
grow in 2000, during the Cardoso administration, but since Lula took
office in January 2003, Brazilian investment has skyrocketed.

The Association of Brazilian Companies in Angola (AEBRAN) says that trade
between the two countries has risen six-fold since 2002 and is still
growing fast.

At present, according to information from AEBRAN which was confirmed by
the Banco do Brasil, Angola is the country receiving the greatest amount
of export financing from Brazil.

At a seminar in Luanda in September, on the occasion of celebrations
marking 185 years of Brazilian independence from Portugal, Angolan Finance
Minister Jos Pedro de Morais said that the volume of financing from Brazil
received by Angola was 475 million dollars in 2005, and had grown to 750
million dollars in 2006.

In an interview with the Portuguese-African weekly Africa 21, Brazilian
journalist Raimundo Lima, a spokesman for AEBRAN, said that "Angola is the
country that receives the most financing from Brazil, as over half the
funds of the Programme for Export Financing (PROEX) administered by Banco
do Brasil last year went into the Angolan economy."

Brazilian exports to Angola increased from 520 million dollars in 2005 to
836 million dollars in 2006, and in the first nine months of 2007 they
were 14 percent up from the same period last year.

Angola is Brazils fourth largest market in Africa, following South Africa,
Nigeria and Egypt, according to Foreign Ministry statistics.

Brazil sells Angola mainly machinery, home appliances, car parts,
tractors, equipment for telecommunications and the oil industry, and even
gasoline, due to the lack of fuel refineries in the southwestern African
nation.

In exchange, Angolas exports to Brazil -- basically crude oil -- were
worth 460 million dollars in 2006.

The presence of Brazilian companies in Angola has expanded on a par with
the increase in trade -- a trend that according to AEBRAN points to a
promising future.

The number of Brazilian companies in Angola has increased by 70 percent
over the last five years. The firms are mainly involved in public works,
sales of construction materials, project design, real estate and food.

Brazilians are thus beginning to flock to a country which, in spite of the
historical and linguistic links, was virtually an unknown quantity until
just over a decade ago.

The 5,000 Brazilians registered in Angola work mainly for construction,
mining and agribusiness companies, in the provinces of Cabinda, Lunda
Norte and Malanje as well as in the capital, Luanda.

For years there have been very few Brazilian professionals and technical
experts in the PALOP countries, where Portuguese expatriates have
predominated. But rather than displacing the former colonisers, the South
Americans are reinforcing their numbers, "a very welcome development,"
according to Portuguese Deputy Foreign Minister Joao Gomes Cravinho.

"Portugal is delighted by Brazils enthusiasm for Africa, repeatedly shown
by Lula, who a few weeks ago made his seventh visit to this continent as
head of state," Gomes, who is also secretary of state for cooperation,
told IPS.

The Brazilian presidents attitude "is extraordinary, especially as he has
only been in office five years," he said.

For Portugal, Lulas attitude towards Africa, a continent that is
frequently ignored and neglected by the international community, "is a
source of great satisfaction, because Brazil, which is particularly near
and dear to us, is getting closer to a continent that is at the centre of
our concerns in terms of foreign policy," he said.

Gomes also emphasised "the great enthusiasm of Brazilian foreign policy
towards the CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries)."

The CPLP, formed by the late Jos Aparecido de Oliveira, a former Brazilian
culture minister, comprises the PALOP countries, Brazil, East Timor and
Portugal, with Equatorial Guinea holding observer status.

Does Portugal not feel that its interests and influence in Africa are
threatened by Brazil? IPS asked.

"We have no sense of competing with Brazil, quite the contrary. What we
see is just the opposite: opportunities that are emerging in
Portuguese-speaking countries, and we particularly think that these
opportunities need to be explored through the CPLP," Gomes said.
(END/2007)

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=40040

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