Cablegate: Brazil's Triangular Development Paradigm

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DE RUEHBR #1719/01 2291855
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171855Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6404
INFO RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 2703
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 7779
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 5310
RUEHWH/WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001719

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL'S TRIANGULAR DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM

BRASILIA 00001719 001.2 OF 002

1. Summary: On August 4, Ambassador Sobel hosted a lunch for S/P
Director Stephen Krasner and a cadre of Ministry of External
Relations (MRE) and international officials, following Krasner's
consultations with GOB officials on the Partnership in Democratic
Governance (PDG) initiative. GoB interlocutors emphasized building
a new triangular paradigm for development assistance, focusing on
education, renewable energy development and Brazilian foreign
assistance to highlight how the principal could be applied. World
Bank Director, John Briscoe, underscored the necessity of
streamlining assistance processes if developed countries wanted to
maintain their position of leadership in providing aid and building
strong democratic governments. End Summary

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Education
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2. Alessandro Candeas, who heads International Relations at the
Ministry of Education, noted the increased importance placed on
policy planning in terms of education and he explained Brazil's new
idea for a "triangular modality" in education assistance. This new
paradigm involves pairing developed, developing (E9) and
underdeveloped countries in a consortium to back education through
teacher training, exchange programs, school meal programs, and the
like. Partnering along the familiar North-South-South line, E9
countries whose domestic programming, know-how and educational
challenges are closer to those of underdeveloped states would
utilize third party resource and technical expertise to implement
assistance. Candaes pointed out that the proposed modality was
appended to the 2006 G8 Summit Document (the only non-G8 suggestion
accepted).

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Foreign Assistance
------------------

3. Recently returned from Haiti, Achilles Zaluar Neto of the MRE's
UN Division stressed the disconnect in Haiti between the fledgling
government, the peacekeeping force, and various aid organizations'
activities; and he stressed the need to harmonize aid structures and
political policies into coordinated initiatives. Underscoring again
the need for a triangular paradigm, MRE UN Division Chief, Glivania
Oliveira, highlighted a Brazilian project in East Timor to
strengthen the country's judicial process. She used the example to
illustrate how a country like Brazil is capable of providing
assistance in terms of language, culture and social/political will.
The caveat is that developing nations lack the resources to provide
assistance on a larger scale. Here again developed countries can
help augment assistance.

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Biofuels
--------

4. The MRE's new Energy Director, Antonio Simoes, outlined the GoB's
goal of utilizing renewable fuels (emphasis on ethanol) as a
mechanism to alleviate poverty and build infrastructure in
underdeveloped countries, not-to-mention other countries in South
America. According to Simoes, the GoB's ultimate goal is to share
the technology that will lead to a worldwide biofuel matrix. The
proposed bilateral MOU with the U.S. and the fledgling Ethanol Forum
are mechanisms to find the ways and means to achieve this ethanol
ethos. Simoes concluded by recommending that both Brazil and the
U.S. attend the regional conference of Energy Ministers in Trinidad
in the beginning of September. Greg Manuel of S/P expressed the
Department's interest in the GoB's proposals and a desire to find a
path forward.
He noted that the Department is working on articulating
a position that will provide a way forward for cooperation
on biofuels.

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U.S. - Brazil Partnership
-------------------------

5. S/P McIlhenny noted President Lula's carefully articulated vision
of democratic integration in the region, suggesting that this
reflected an affinity of values that should make it possible for
Brazil and the U.S. to work creatively together in new forms of
partnership that serve shared interests. In fact, that engagement
was already emerging in creative ways that bolstered democratic
governance, witness the joint Brazil/U.S. project in Guinea Bissau.
Few might have expected, five years ago, that this sort of
partnership would emerge between us. That it has reflects a
pragmatic approach on both sides that augurs well for other
cooperation.

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COMMENT
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BRASILIA 00001719 002.2 OF 002

6. John Briscoe of the World Bank put the meeting in perspective by
relating an assistance tale from Mozambique. When countries like
the United States and Brazil drag their feet, China enters and fills
in the capacity building void. The story's moral: governments need
to change the way they view assistance, to streamline aid processes
and to find novel ways to support capacity building endeavors. The
meeting hammered home the point that politics and economics are
inexorably intertwined and, therefore, need to be linked. End
Comment

7. Participants:

U.S. Side
---------

S/P Director Stephen Krasner
Ambassador Sobel
William McIlhenny (S/P Member),
Gregory Manuel (S/P Member)
Mark Kennon (U.S. Embassy Brasilia),
Matthew Golden (U.S. Embassy Brasilia)

Brazilian Side
--------------

Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota(Under Secretary for Political
Affairs, SGAP I),

Counselor Joco Tabajara(United States and Canada Division, DEUC),

Counselor Glivania Maria de Oliveira (United Nations Department,
DNU),

Counselor Achilles Emilio Zaluar Neto (United Nations Department,
DNU),

Minister Antonio Jose Ferreira Simes (Energy Department),

Minister Antonio Luis Espinola Salgado (Under-Secretariat for
Political Affairs, SGAP I),

Secretary Jorge Luiz Vieira Tavares (United States and Canada

SIPDIS
Division, DEUC),

Counselor Alessandro Candeas (Ministry of Education International
Advisor)

International Organizations
---------------------------

Mr. Vincent Defourney (UNESCO Representative), Mr. John Briscoe
(World Bank Director),

8. S/P Krasner has cleared this cable.

SOBEL

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