Canada shores up ties with Brazil

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. Photo: Antônio Cruz/ABr

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil on Wednesday hosted Mélanie Joly, the Canadian foreign minister, for a meeting in Brasília. According to a statement issued by the Brazilian presidential office, the two discussed deepening cooperation between Brazil and Canada in various areas, including trade relations, international security, and environmental policy.

The possibility of Canada increasing its investments in Brazil’s renewable energy sector was broached, as was the topic of rich countries contributing financially to environmental protection in developing countries.

Both sides hailed the meeting as a sign of Brazil and Canada’s close relationship. According to the Brazilian presidential office, Ms. Joly stressed the similarities between the two continental-sized countries in the Americas, which are both major producers of food and energy, home to large forests, and preoccupied with improving the situation of their native populations.

There are also non-negligible trade ties between the two countries — Canada is Brazil’s 13th-largest trade partner and 11th-biggest source of foreign investment.

Bilateral trade between Brazil and Canada grew 40.9 percent between 2021 and 2022, to a total of USD 10.56 billion. Brazil has a trade surplus of USD 232.1 million with the North American country, which primarily exports fertilizers to the South American giant.

Lula and Ms. Joly also touched upon the situation in Haiti, following a discussion on Brazil and Canada shoring up the Haitian National Police force (PNd’H) between Ms. Joly and her Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira the previous day. The possibility of once again providing UN-coordinated aid to the troubled Caribbean nation is being considered by the international community as Haiti is going through an ever-deeper security and humanitarian crisis amid ongoing political turmoil.

Ms. Joly and Mr. Vieira signed a defense cooperation agreement this Tuesday, described by Ms. Joly as a “new milestone” in the bilateral relationship. The agreement aims to increase cooperation in humanitarian assistance and emergency response as well as defense procurement and training.

Ms. Joly was in Brazil this week for the fourth edition of the Strategic Partnership Dialogue between Canada and Brazil. Her visit also included meetings with Supreme Court Chief Justice Rosa Weber and Women’s Minister Cida Gonçalves.