Al Jazeera.
Though much ink has been spilt on Beijing's rising economic presence
in Africa, few have written about the continent's most recent up and
coming player: Brazil. It's not clear why commentators have ignored such
important geopolitical developments. Under Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva
as well as his protégé Dilma Rousseff, Brazil has been conducting a big
push into Africa which could have far reaching consequences.
Brazil's rise on the international stage has not escaped notice by
the American right. Recently, a columnist at Henry Kissinger's National Interest wrote that one cannot overlook "Brazil's inheritance of the Portuguese Empire's mantle in Africa".
To an extent, Brazil's push into Africa is only natural. With the
financial downturn taking its toll in most nations of the world, Brazil
sees the Sub-Saharan region as one of the few bright spots for economic
growth. Concerned that the eurozone crisis may pose a financial threat
to her country, Rousseff has placed great importance on Brazil's African
expansion. Indeed, Brazil's trade with Africa has snowballed, from just
$4bn in 2000 to more than $27bn in 2011. In a sign of the times,
Rousseff recently travelled personally to South Africa, Mozambique and
Angola in an effort to shore up economic co-operation.
Though certainly dramatic, Rousseff's Africa pivot is nothing new:
Under predecessor Lula, Brazil opened an impressive 17 new embassies in
the continent. The South American juggernaut's giant corporations, which
now operate in 21 African countries, have plunged into such diverse
sectors as mining, oil exploration and tropical agriculture.
Traditionally present in the Lusophone, or Portuguese-speaking African
countries, Brazilian firms are now pushing into Francophone and even
Anglophone nations such as Nigeria.
With such an impressive and growing presence, Brazil could one day
challenge China in the scramble for Africa's vast mineral deposits and
consumer markets.
