Brazil–South Africa relations
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Brazil–South Africa relations are the
bilateral relations Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...
between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the
Republic of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. Both nations are members of the BRICS,
Cairns Group The Cairns Group (Cairns Group of Fair Trading Nations) is an interest group of 19 agricultural exporting countries, composed of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakist ...
, G20, Group of 24,
Group of 77 The Group of 77 (G77) at the United Nations (UN) is a coalition of 134 developing countries, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 fou ...
and the United Nations.


History

In 1918, Brazil opened a consulate in Cape Town.Bilateral relations Brazil-South Africa (in Portuguese)
/ref> In January 1948, both nations established diplomatic relations. That same year, Brazil opened a diplomatic legation in Pretoria and South Africa opened a diplomatic legation in Rio de Janeiro. In 1948, the South African government implemented apartheid in the country. In 1971, South Africa upgraded its legation to an embassy based in Brasília. Brazil followed suit in 1974. In the 1970’s, both countries were developing nuclear technology. Both Brazil and South Africa strongly opposed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and both had ambitious nuclear technology development programs. Both nations received assistance from West Germany and were the targets of U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policies and possible sanctions. Despite their many similarities, Brazil’s fundamental opposition to South Africa’s apartheid government, and the South African Border War with Angola (a fellow Portuguese speaking nation); prevented both nations from cooperating in nuclear technology.Brazil-South Africa Nuclear Relations
/ref> In May 1979 the government of South Africa opened a communication channel with Brazil through the Brazilian embassy in Bonn, however, political problems, such as the international sanctions against the South African government and its international partners, led West Germany to suspend nuclear cooperation with South Africa and cooperation between Brasília and Pretoria was not established due to the problematic relations between the two countries. In August 1985 Brazil imposed restrictions on relations with South Africa, in repudiation of apartheid. In August 1991, one year after obtaining his freedom,
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
, as President of the African National Congress; paid a six day visit to Brazil and met with Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello. In 1992, Brazil began to ease sanctions against South Africa and re-appointed an ambassador to Pretoria. In 1994, all sanctions on South Africa were lifted. In November 1996, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso paid an official visit to South Africa, the first by a Brazilian head-of-government. In 1998, Nelson Mandela returned to Brazil as
President of South Africa The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of South Africa and is the commander-in-chief of the South African Nationa ...
. There would be further high-level visits between leaders of both nations. Both countries maintain open channels of dialogue in multilateral forums and provide constant mutual support for their candidacies in international organizations. Both nations have an intense bilateral agenda with relation to defense and security cooperation; nuclear energy cooperation; investments and access to markets. In November 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid a visit to Brazil to attend the
11th BRICS summit The 2019 BRICS summit was the eleventh annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference to be attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The meeting w ...
held in Brasília, and met with Brazilian President
Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...
.


High-level Visits

High-level visits from Brazil to South Africa * President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1996) * Foreign Minister
Luiz Felipe Lampreia Luiz Felipe Palmeira Lampreia (19 October 1941 – 2 February 2016) was a Brazilian diplomat and sociologist. He was born in Rio de Janeiro. Lampreia worked as a professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He served as cha ...
(2000) * President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003, 2007) * Foreign Minister
Antonio Patriota Antonio de Aguiar Patriota (born April 27, 1954) is the current Ambassador of Brazil to Egypt and former Minister of Foreign Affairs. Patriota took office as foreign minister on January 1, 2011, and remained in office until August 26, 2013. A gra ...
(2011) * President Dilma Rousseff (2011, 2013) * Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes (2017) * President Michel Temer (2018) * Minister of Defense
Fernando Azevedo e Silva Fernando Azevedo e Silva (born 4 February 1954) is a Brazilian politician and reserve army general. He served as the Brazilian Minister of Defence during the first half of President Jair Bolsonaro's term from January 2019 to March 2021. He gradu ...
(2019) High-level visits from South Africa to Brazil * President
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
(1991, 1998) * President Thabo Mbeki (2000) * President
Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...
(2009, 2010, 2014) * Foreign Minister
Maite Nkoana-Mashabane Maite Emily Nkoana-Mashabane (born 30 September 1963) is a South Africa, South African politician who is the Minister of Women in the Presidency (South Africa), Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. She was Minister of Rural Dev ...
(2013) * Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor (2019) * President Cyril Ramaphosa (2019)


Bilateral agreements

Both nations have signed a few bilateral agreements such as an Agreement in Mutual Assistance between its Customs Administrations (2008); Agreement of Cooperation in Higher Education (2009); Agreement to Avoid Double Taxation and Prevent Tax Evasion in relation to Income Tax (2017); and an Agreement of Preferential Trade between Mercosur (which includes Brazil) and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) (which includes South Africa) (2019).


Resident diplomatic missions

* Brazil has an embassy in Pretoria and a consulate-general in Cape Town. * South Africa has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.Embassy of South Africa in Brasília
/ref>


See also

*
South African diaspora The South African diaspora consists of South African emigrants and their descendants living outside South Africa. The largest concentrations of South African emigrants are to be found in the United Kingdom, followed by Australia, the United Stat ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brazil - South Africa Relations South Africa Bilateral relations of South Africa