Notícias
Address by Minister Ernesto Araújo at the launch of the Japan-United States-Brazil Exchange (JUSBE) Brasilia, 10/11/2020
Good morning to you all,
Undersecretary Keith Krach,
Ambassador Hayashi Teiji,
It is really a great pleasure to receive you here in Brasilia. I do not want to take much of your time for this very important work. Just to share a few ideas before you begin this very significant inaugural meeting of the Japan-United States-Brazil Exchange, I am very happy to host you here. It is an honor for Brazil. It is an honor for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And I thank you, the Japanese and the American delegation, for making the trip during those difficult times and be here in presence. We realize how important it is to have eye-to-eye meetings and presential meetings. Those pandemic times have shown us the importance of things that we used to take for granted. And this is only one of them. So, thank you very much for being here.
Just to share with you that for me, personally, this is the beginning of the coming true of a dream. Since the beginning of our work in this administration, almost exactly two years ago, before the inauguration of the president, when I was appointed, we were forming our team and starting to think what we wanted to do or how to implement the president’s ideas in foreign policy and we opened mentally the map of the world and we said, well, there is something wrong. We should not think of the world in terms of developing countries on the one side and developed countries on the other side, like, at least here in Brazil, we diplomats were taught since kindergarten. I mean, this is part of what the world looks like, but it is an old picture and we have to do something else because Brazil was changing. Brazil is changing, Brazil is in the process of a very deep transformation. And not only do we want to grow, to develop our economy, so as to be a developing country that finally develops, but, more than that, we want to be a democratic country, a democratic society in a very deep sense. And we want to be a democratic country that helps with all our strength, with everything we have, to shape the world in favor of democracy, in favor of freedom.
We were convinced then, President Bolsonaro believes in that deeply and we are still convinced that we can help make a difference in the world, that we need democracy and freedom at home and in the world and that Brazil can be a force for that. And when we looked at the world map with that sort of fresh look, we immediately saw Japan and the United States as key partners in that endeavor. And that is what we started setting to achieve. In recent times, this year especially, at least for me, it became more apparent that this sort of democracy deficit is a key problem. Not only in terms of its practice, but in terms of the way we talk, the way we move countries and institutions around the world. It is very rare to see the words democracy and freedom mentioned in international fora. It is very rare to see that sort of elan, that sort of feeling for freedom and democracy present in those discussions, not even the words are mentioned, let alone the deeper feeling behind it.
And this is, I think, what we have to set to change: to think the world, to think international relations, to think the power structure in the world, technology, the economy, other matters from the point of view of that feeling and that practice of democracy, which is so fundamental for our three countries and for our three societies. We need to make democracy and freedom central in the world again, in the world discussions, in the discussion of mechanisms, initiatives to face the problems that we all face. We need new geometries for that and this triangle here inside that new kind of geometry is, from our point of view, fundamental. I do not want to take the credit for this because I think the original idea for this triangle was from Japan, but it makes enormous sense for us and we are very enthusiastic about this since the beginning.
We had extremely productive bilateral exchanges, as you know, with both of your countries. President Bolsonaro visited the United States, visited Japan, had extensive talks with president Trump, had extensive talks with then prime minister Abe. I personally had the pleasure, the honor of talking many times with minister Motegi and secretary Pompeo, of course. And more and more are we convinced that it is not only a matter of our very strong and very promising bilateral interests on top of our traditional economic and social and other kinds of relationship, but it is a matter of working with that sphere of values and to be together in this endeavor of reshaping the world.
And this is much more fundamental now with the COVID pandemic and all its threats and challenges. Of course, it is a health issue above all but it should not become the pretext for the wrong kind of reshaping of the world. It should not be a pretext for replacing national sovereignties with some sort of international bureaucratic scheme. It should not be a pretext for shaping societies in the direction of total control societies. This is something that is looming and that we have to, I believe, to talk about.
So, here we are with all our dedication to this process. I think we have to be ambitious. We have to be realistic, of course, about what we can achieve but, from the discussions that have taken place, from the Joint Declaration that we are about to release, we see that this is not only about specific issues but also about the vision, the vision thing. We need to, I think, to work from that sort of vision that unites us. And it is from there that we can achieve concrete things in the economy, in technology, in prosperity, governance, human rights, the environment, you name it, from that sort of common perspective that we have to work.
So, I think this meeting is a proof that we were not shying away from the big issues. We are not shying away from the responsibilities that our countries have in the world. And it is a proof that we stand for fairness and for freedom both at home and in the world. Every day brings its new challenges. Everyone is thinking about what the world is going to look like and I think we can start to give that sort of message, that we have a common direction and that we can not only work among the three of us, but maybe also start to unite other countries, unite other constituencies, so to say, around those values. But this triangle is something very strong, and I am pretty sure that the message that we are sending here today will resonate very loud around the world.
Thank you very much and have a nice day of work. Thank you.