Speech by Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota on the occasion of the handing over of the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs – Palácio do Planalto, August 28th, 2013

 

From Your Excellency, I had the satisfaction of always having received balanced and precise guidelines during my tenure as the Head of Itamaraty, which inspired our diplomatic corps to improve the quality of its performance in the formulation and implementation of Brazilian foreign policy.

I am also thankful to Your Excellency for the new opportunity bestowed upon me by being appointed as Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations. This brings me back to the dawn of my career, as a young Third Secretary at the United Nations Division.

 

There could be no better choice to replace me as Minister of External Relations than Ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, my dear friend and colleague since we shared the same office in 1981.

 

Ambassador Figueiredo has one of the most impressive track records among diplomats of our generation, particularly in a field in which Brazil exercises unquestionable leadership, that of environmental, climate and sustainable development issues.

 

Suffice it to say, perhaps, that Luiz Alberto Figueiredo is the diplomat responsible for achieving “The Future we Want”, at the Rio+20 Conference.

 

On this occasion, I cannot but express my deepest gratitude for the cooperation I received from other Ministers of State during my tenure.

 

Itamaraty, due to the peculiar nature of its activities, carries out its duties in strict coordination with other Ministries and Government branches, always with the common goal of seeking governmental efficiency in the defense of national interests.

 

Madam President,

 

Your Excellency is building a country capable of eradicating extreme poverty, distributing income in a more inclusive way, growing sustainedly and developing sustainably in a democratic environment, respecting diversity and human rights, and also attentive to the voice of the streets.

 

Brazil is a country which reflects in its foreign policy the same core values and priorities that drive it domestically.

 

The foreign policy of Your Excellency’s government was built upon the solid foundations laid down in the period between 2003 and 2010. Brazil’s international relations platform, forged during the last decade, has been updated and consolidated during your tenure.

The deepening of regional integration has proceeded hand in hand with the strengthening of our relations with a growing number of partners, in the fields of trade, investment, science, technology and innovation. Our active contribution to major political and conceptual debates has been accompanied by the truly universal reach of Brazilian diplomacy.

 

From January 2011 to July 2013, Your Excellency took 37 trips abroad. In the same period, Brazil received 48 visits by foreign Heads of State and Government. As Minister of External Relations, until July 2013, I participated in more than 180 initiatives overseas, among bilateral visits, multilateral events and accompanying Your Excellency’s official visits. In the past two and a half years, Ministers of Foreign Affairs visited Brazil on 91 occasions.

 

Those are significant numbers which reflect Brazil’s new standard of international engagement. As a result, we have achieved important international positions, as attested by the election of Brazilians to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

In this context, may I allow myself to express my special satisfaction with the fact that, during my tenure, Brazil won all the international elections for which it presented candidacies.

 

Madam President,

 

The improvement of Brazilian democracy implies a growing openness of the Government to the contributions of civil society. In keeping with this spirit, Itamaraty has been undertaking specific initiatives toward a diplomacy that is more open to interaction with society. The Ministry of External Relations intends to systematize this interaction in an institutional and permanent manner.

 

While at the forefront of the Ministry of External Relations, I regularly went to public hearings at the Commissions of External Relations and National Defense both at the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. These occasions allowed me to present information and share assessments on Itamaraty's spheres of action.

 

In my contacts with the Parliament and civil society, I always committed myself to the utmost level of transparency. I avoided no subject or issue, no matter how sensitive, including those related to the status of the Bolivian Senator Roger Pinto Molina.

 

The Brazilian Government offered protection to Senator Roger Pinto in strict compliance with the obligations and duties listed by the Convention of Caracas on Diplomatic Asylum. Throughout the period in which Senator Pinto was under asylum at the Brazilian Embassy in La Paz, the Brazilian Government always respected Bolivian sovereignty, while seeking– through a specific mechanism that convened several times in the past five months –a negotiated and legally sound solution, capable of ensuring the safe transit of Senator Pinto Molina into Brazilian territory.

 

The independent initiative of a public official in La Paz, acting under no instructions on a subject of great sensitivity, represents a conduct that must not be repeated. As a result of our work, Brazilian diplomacy has achieved respectability and credibility. I am certain it will remain this way.

 

To all Itamaraty employees, posted either in Brazil or overseas, who guide their careers by a high standard of professional ethics and responsibility , I would like to offer through the Secretary-General, Ambassador Eduardo dos Santos, my deepest gratitude. I pay my tribute to them at this moment.

 

I would like to refer, at last, to the Brazilian youngsters who see the diplomatic career as a valuable working option. Only Yesterday I received a touching e-mail from a 15 year-old student saying that his greatest dream is to serve Brazil abroad. To all of you, I would like to convey my enthusiasm for your involvement with our work, united by the confidence which we harbor in the greatness of our homeland and in our renewed capacity to live in peace and prosperity and to prioritize dialogue among nations.

 

Thank you very much.