Czech Republic

Brazil has maintained uninterrupted relations with the Czech Republic since its creation in 1918. In 1920, with the establishment of diplomatic relations, Czechoslovakia installed diplomatic Legation in Rio de Janeiro, a gesture rendered by Brazil in 1921, in Prague. In 2020, the centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries will be celebrated.

Before the so-called "velvet divorce" between the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, Czechoslovakian Prime Minister, Lubomir Strougal, visited Brazil, in 1988. In 1993, Brazil recognized the Czech Republic as an independent country.

The bilateral agenda gained momentum with the end of the communist regime, especially after President Fernando Collor de Mello's visit to Prague (1990). In 1994, President-elected Fernando Henrique Cardoso visited Prague, and was received by President Václav Havel and then Prime Minister Václav Klaus. Klaus visited Brazil as head of government in 1994. In 2006, Jiri Paroubek became the second Czech Prime Minister to pay a working visit to Brazil.

The bilateral dialogue received new impetus with the working visit of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Prague (2008). The establishment of the Bilateral Joint Commission (2009) and the signing of a defense agreement (2010), the partnership between Embraer and Aero Vodochody (2011) and the approach between space agencies have provided new possibilities for deepening and diversifying bilateral relationship. In April 2016, the then Vice-President of the Republic, Michel Temer, paid a working visit to Prague. That same year, in August, on the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, President Milos Zeman had a working visit to Brazil.

In January 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro and Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, met in Davos, on the World Economic Forum. 

The Memorandum of Understanding on Political Consultations of 1993 regulates the meetings on bilateral political consultation. The last meeting took place in Prague, on August 29 2016, chaired, on the Brazilian side, by the Undersecretary-General for Multilateral Political Affairs, Europe and North America (SGEAM).

At the moment, the relationship tend to tighten the ties that bring the two governments together, both economically, as result of the liberal orientation and the search for new trading partnerships, as well as politically, due to the convergences of views on the challenges for the international agenda.

Trading between Brazil and the Czech Republic has grown since 2015. In 2018, trading reached US$ 557.3 million. Brazilian exports totalled US$ 83.3 million and imports US$ 474 million. Brazilian exporting agenda focuses on semi-manufactured products of iron or steel (33%) and motors (27%).

Chronology of Bilateral Relations

2019 – President Jair Bolsonaro and Prime Minister Andrej Babis meet on the side-lines of the World Economic Forum, in Davos

2018 – Federal Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations and National Defence chairman, Senator Fernando Collor de Mello, pays working visit to the Czech Republic

2016 – President Milos Zeman, Senate's President, Milan Stech, Chamber's President, Jan Hamácek, and Minister of Education, Sport and Youth, Katerina Valachová, have working visit to Brazil, on the occasion of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

2016 – Then Vice-President of the Republic, Michel Temer, has a working visit to Prague

2015 – Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky has a working visit to Brazil 

2013 – Czech Senate's President, Milan Štěch, pays working visit to Brazil

2009 – President Václav Klaus visits Brazil

2008 – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visits Prague

2006 – Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek visits Brazil

1996 – President Václav Havel visits Brazil

1994 – Fernando Henrique Cardoso visits the Czech Republic as President-elect; Prime-Minister Václav Klaus visits Brazil

1993 – Brazil recognizes the Czech Republic after the “Velvet Divorce”

1990 – President Fernando Collor visits Prague

1989 – Foreign Minister Roberto Costa de Abreu Sodré pays working visit to Prague

1988 – Visit of the Czechoslovakian Prime Minister, Lubomir Strugal, to Brazil

1960 – Legations of both countries are elevated to Embassies

1921 – Brazil opens a diplomatic legation in Prague

1920 – Czechoslovakia installs a diplomatic legation in Rio de Janeiro

1918 – Brazil and Czechoslovakia establish diplomatic relations