This document summarizes Brazil's economic relations and presence in the Caribbean region. It outlines Brazil's growing economic power and exports, driven by commodity demand. While Brazil faces some economic challenges like inflation and inequality, it has emerged as an export leader in sectors like agriculture, minerals and fuels. The document also discusses Brazil's increasing investments, trade and cooperation with Caribbean countries, as well as its strategic interests in projecting influence and challenging US dominance in the region as a rising global power.

1. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
OF THE CARIBBEAN
Brazil emergence and its presence
in the Caribbean
Dr. Jacqueline LAGUARDIA MARTINEZ

3. Economic perspective is vital to
understand the BRICS
• BRICS: originated from an economic
perspective
• Economy is still as a central pillar in
integration process
• Dynamic economic relations between
BRICS and the Caribbean in the XXI century

4. Brazil’s Economic figures (%) (2000-2012)
Fuente: IBGE; CEPAL
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
GDP 4.3 1.3 2.7 1.1 5.7 3.2 4.0 6.1 5.2 -0.3 7.5 2.7 0.9
GDP per c. 2.8 -0.2 1.2 -0.2 4.4 2 2.9 5.1 4.2 -1.2 6.6 1.8 0.4
Inflation 6.0 7.7 12.5 9.3 7.6 5.7 3.1 4.5 5.9 4.3 5.9 6.5 5.8
Unemployment 7.1 6.2 11.7 12.3 11.5 9.8 10.0 9.3 7.9 8.1. 6.7 6.0 4.9
Source: IBGE; CEPAL in Jonathan Quirós Santos

5. Evolución y proyección de Coeficiente de Gini 1995-2015
Fuente: IPEA
Source: IPEA in Jonathan Quirós Santos

6. Macroeconomic problems
• Inflation: High (around 6% since 2010)
• Middle class growth, but still poverty and social
inequality
• Gross Fixed Capital Formation/GDP: Still
insufficient (around 19% since 2000)
• Surplus in Trade Balance since 2001, but
manufactured goods diminish participation rate
(59% in 2000 and 37% in 2012) REPRIMARIZATION?
• Increased participation of imported goods needed
by the industrial sector

7. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

8. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

9. Brazilian Exports (millions USD)
Source: SECEX in in Jonathan Quirós Santos

10. Participation of Brazilian exports in world exports
Source: SECEX in in Jonathan Quirós Santos

11. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

12. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

13. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

14. Jonathan Quirós Santos, El mundo emergente y los BRICS en la situación actual: Brasil, November 2013
Brasil en el mundo: producción y exportación de productos seleccionados
Brazil: An export leader

15. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

16. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

17. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

18. Thomaz Ferreira Jensen, Brasil: conjuntura econômica recente e desafios estruturais à inovação e ao

19. Main Brazil exports destinies (2011)
Fuente: SECEX del MDIC
Source: SECEX in in Jonathan Quirós Santos

20. Also
• Inadequate infrastructure (roads, ports and airports)
• Insufficient FDI
• Rapid capital inflows (especially portfolio equity
investments)
• Crime and public security
• Lack of access to quality public services (healthcare)
• Gaps in education and skills: Brazil faces a shortage of
8 million skilled workers over the next years (data from
2012)
• Poor competitiveness and innovation (economy being
dominated by large actors)
• Regional disparities(São Paulo 33% of national GDP)

21. Brazil and the Caribbean before XXI C.
1. Strong cultural links: African heritage and
colonial past
2. Low intensity economic and political relations:
Preference for other international actors and
regions
3. Perception as a regional imperialist power:
Brazilian monarchy (19th
century), cooperation
with German Nazis (20th
century)
MISTRUST AND SUSPICION

22. What changed?
1. Rising global demand for commodities and high
commodity prices
2. Brazil external projection focus, specifically towards
Latin American and the Caribbean
3. USA and EU facing majors economic problems
4. Previous world hegemony questioned from foreign
policy and international roles: Middle East, Climate
Change
5. History of continuous intervention the USA in Latin
America and the Caribbean
6. The Obama administration has not materialized an
active policy to the Caribbean, in spite the announced
intentions

23. Carlos Federico Domínguez Avila – en Cadernos PROLAM/USP (ano 8 - vol. 1 - 2008), p. 41 - 65.

24. • In St Lucia, since 2007, the Brazilian State Oil
Company ( Petrobrás) has made an agreement
with Hess Oil St Lucia Limited HOSLL, in order to
store oil for export to third markets
• Because of that agreement, 99% of Brazilian
exports to St Lucia are of crude petroleum oil
(óleos brutos de petroleo)
• Due to the agreement, Petrobrás has been able to
negotiate with refineries in the Gulf of Mexico,
US’s east coast and the Caribbean, reducing the
costs of exporting oil to the US market

25. Imbalance in Trade Flow CARICOM-BRAZIL
http://www.iadb.org/intal/aplicaciones/uploads/publicaciones/e_INTAL_ICM_165_CARIBE1_2010.pdf

26. CARICOM countries exporting to Brazil
In Jorge Mario Sánchez Egozcue, L’influence des puissances émergentes latino-américaines
dans la Grande Caraïbe: les cas du Venezuela et du Brésil

27. Bienes de mediana y alta tecnología: Sectores automotriz
(y aéreo), químico, plásticos, electro-electrónicos,
metalmecánica, material médico-quirúrgico, maquinaria
agropecuaria, fertilizantes, material de escritorio, juguetes,
y papel
Bienes primarios: alimentos, particularmente soya, así
como ciertas semillas, maderas y aceites
Bienes de capital y de consumo duradero, de buena
calidad y con precios competitivos
Apoyo de la Agência de Promoção de Exportação e
Investimentos (APEX-Brasil)
Exports to the Caribbean

28. • Petróleo y derivados (Venezuela, México,
T&T)
• Productos de media y alta tecnología
(especialmente informática procedente de
México y Costa Rica, o bien reexportados
desde islas anglófonas y Panamá)
• Automóviles y repuestos (México)
• Medicamentos y biotecnología (Cuba)
Imports from the Caribbean

29. Brazil Investments in the (Greater) Caribbean
• Recent data
• Economic dynamism in the region: growing demand
• Exports platforms: Brazil is taking advantage of BTA
between third countries and the USA (NAFTA /
CAFTA). Ex: Santista Têxtil investments in Honduras
and Dom. Republic
• Participation of the Brazilian State: Credit facilities
by Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e
Social (BNDES) and the Programa de Incentivo aos
Investimentos Brasileiros na América Central e
Caribe (PIBAC)

30. • Economic infrastructure: Panama channel,
Nicaragua alternative channel, transport
infrastructure –highways, ports, airports-, hydro
electrical, refineries, telecommunications, gas
lines… Ex: Obedrecht, Andrade Gutierrez,
Camargo, Corrêa, Queiroz Galvão, Intertechne,
Alusa
• Brazil-Cuba project in Mariel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDZ5FeWVrbE

31. Other Brazilian Investment in: Cayman Islands,
Panama, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, but
•Hard to quantify due to dubious origins or clearly
illegal.
•Estimated in more than 3 000 millions USD
Investing in Brazil
Mexican capital: more than US$ 3 000 millions
Public Bilateral Debt
Nicaragua: Partial cancellation in 1998 (95% )

32. Brazil´s Foreign Policy
• Defined as: Western, Developing, south
American, Amazonian, “Platino”, Mercosurian,
Caribbean
• Middle Power: BRICS
• Pacific, cooperative projection (Soft Hegemony)
• Regional integration
• Tradition of linking foreign policy initiatives
with development objectives
• PROMOTION OF ITS NATIONAL INTERESTS

33. Brazil Horizontal / South-South Cooperation
Main Brazilian Actors
•Agencia Brasileira de Cooperação
•Governmental institutions: EMBRAPA, EMBRATUR, CNPq,
IBAMA, FIOCRUZ, ESAF, universities and research centers
•NGO
Main sectors
•Postgraduate studies (Scholarships)
•Sports, Health (Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS)
•Technology transfers (producing ethanol from sugar cane in
El Salvador, Haiti, Dominican Rep., Saint Kitts and Nevis)
•Natural disasters: Civil defense training in Brazil in 2006
•Agriculture and biofuels: export ethanol to the USA
•Military cooperation: Guyana and Suriname

34. Brazil-Haiti
After January, 2010
•Militar forces (UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti,
MINUSTAH)
•Health sector: TRIANGULAR COOPERATION
BRAZIL
CUBAHAITI

35. Political dialogue (Government levels)
• Bilateral: Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba
• Multilateral: Brazil-SICA and Brazil-CARICOM
• Observer member of the AEC
Main subjects
• Democracy
• Human rights: diaspora living in the USA and Canada
• Poverty and social exclusion
• Environment and Sustainable Development: Climate Change
• Natural disasters management
• Peace and security
• Regional integration and coordination
• Reforming international institution: UN Security Council
(Brazil competes against Mexico and Argentina in the region)

36. Brazil-CARICOM Summit
First Summit: April 26th
, 2010, Brasilia
•Stress on solidarity, sovereignty, democracy
•More than 40 Agreements: health, education,
culture, agriculture, energy, tourism, defense,
environment
•Mechanism of political consultations
•New embassies
•Brazil represents CARICOM in G20

37. CARICOM interests
• To secure commitment from Brazil for the need for
special and preferential treatment as small states
• To move to increase trade
• To pursue partnership in areas such as bio-fuel
• To ensure mutually beneficial engagement without
the perception of a new form of dependency
emerging
Mark Kirton , Building a New Caribbean with a BRIC nearby:
CARICOM-Brazil Relations in the 21st
Century

38. Interesting fact
“ (…) las reservas descubiertas en el campo
marítimo Tupi equivaldrían a entre 5.000 y 8.000
millones de barriles de petróleo y gas. Esto es
igual al 50% de las reservas que ese país
encontró en los últimos 50 años”
Augusto Varas, Brasil en Sudamérica: De la
indiferencia a la hegemonía

39. Brazil, as a BRICS
“With its abundance of land, freshwater, food and
energy, and its comparative freedom from regional
conflicts and tensions, Brazil is perhaps best-placed
of the emerging powers in terms of the array of
opportunities and lack of constraints before it.”
Brazil rising. The prospects of an emerging power
Alfredo Cabral & Priya Shankar