Visit by Vice-Chancellor of Germany and businesspersons enhances rapprochement between Brazil and Germany

The recent rapprochement between the governments of Brazil and Germany progressed significantly, this week, following the visit by two important members of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet. The Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, and the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, came to Brazil for a 3-day trip alongside a delegation of German businesspersons before heading to Colombia.

The group’s first stop was the city of Belo Horizonte (capital of the state of Minas Gerais), on Monday (13), to attend the 39th German-Brazilian Economic Meeting. There they met with Brazil’s Vice-President and Minister of Development, Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, Geraldo Alckmin.

Also in Belo Horizonte, the Ministers attended the 49th meeting of the Brazil-Germany Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation, chaired by Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and by Brazil’s Secretary General of External Relations, Ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha.

On Monday night, the delegation traveled to Brasília for another set of meetings with Brazilian officials. Robert Habeck met with Brazil’s Minister of External Relations, Mauro Vieira, to discuss issues such as the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. Next, alongside Minister of Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira, Habeck signed a document to reinforce the German-Brazilian Energy Partnership.

Cem Özdemir, in turn, met with the Brazilian Ministers of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, and Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, to discuss the need to intensify cooperation between Germany and Brazil concerning climate protection, research, organic agriculture and forest protection.

The environment was also the focus of the last leg of the German delegation’s trip to Brazil. On Tuesday (14), the group traveled to the state of Amazonas to visit the Três Unidos community, which houses a project – financed by Brazil and Germany – to encourage the development of techniques towards the sustainable use of the forest. The group then left for the capital of Colombia, Bogotá.

This is the fourth time German government representatives have visited Brazil this year – and this signals the resumption of traditional ties of cooperation, friendship and joint investments between the two countries. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier came to President Lula’s January 1 inauguration; later that month, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also paid Lula an official visit. German Ministers of the Environment, Steffi Lemke, and of Economic Cooperation, Svenja Schulze, visited Brazil earlier this year.