PHA-Exchange> Brazil assists Mozambique

[Claudio]

From: "Beverley Snell" <bev at burnet.edu.au>

Brazil assists Mozambique
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Source: Mozambique News Agency Reports No 282 September 3, 2004
Copied as fair use.

Brazil cancels most of Mozambique's debt

Brazil announced on 31 August that it has decided to write off
$314 million, representing 95 per cent of the $331 million that
Mozambique owes that country. The decision was formalised in one
of the various agreements and protocols signed between Brazilian
President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and his Mozambican counter-
part, Joaquim Chissano, who arrived in Brasilia on 31 August for
a four day official visit to Brazil.

Speaking during the ceremony, President Lula said that more than
simply relieving Mozambique of this debt, his country wants,
through this gesture, to show that it is determined to help
other countries, that are poorer and facing greater needs than
Brazil. He said that it makes no sense at all that very rich na-
tions - most of whose wealth was accumulated by exploiting other
countries' resources - insist on collecting debts that have been
proved definitely unpayable.

President Lula stressed that Brazil is in moral and material
debt to Mozambique and to Africa as a whole, because the Brazil-
ian economy was built on the labour of enslaved Africans. He
said it was the millions of slaves and the descendants of slaves
who contributed to the development of Brazil and other American
countries, "while Africa remained stagnant". He reiterated that
Brazil will continue its policy of supporting African countries,
that was launched by his government when it took office two
years ago.

For his part, President Chissano thanked the gesture of the Bra-
zilian government, describing it as further proof that this
country is determined to move from promises to actions. He said
that writing off the Mozambican debt will allow the two coun-
tries to commit more efforts in promoting bilateral cooperation
and new socio-economic investments.

Brazil reaffirms commitment to pharmaceutical plant

During President Chissano's trip to Brazil, the Brazilian au-
thorities reaffirmed their commitment to building a pharmaceuti-
cal plant in Mozambique that will produce generic anti-
retroviral drugs, used to prolong the lives of people suffering
from AIDS. When he visited Mozambique last November, Brazilian
President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva confirmed Brazil's interest
in building this factory.

However, in early August a news item carried by the Portuguese
news agency Lusa gave the impression that Brazil had torn up
this pledge, citing the Coordinator of AIDS Programmes in the
Brazilian Health Ministry, Pedro Chequer, as declaring "It's not
worth building a factory making anti-retrovirals in Mozambique,
for it to become a white elephant".

The story was then carried in much of the Mozambican media, much
to the surprise of Health Minister Francisco Songane, who said
he had received no information from the Brazilians that the
agreement of 2003 was no longer valid.

A joint communiqué on 31 August following discussions between
President Lula and President Chissano reiterates categorically
that Brazil remains committed to the pharmaceutical factory. and
will do all in its power to ensure that construction begins as
soon as possible.

The two presidents stressed the promise to transfer Brazilian
technology in the area of producing anti-retroviral drugs to Mo-
zambique, in accordance with what had been agreed during Lula's
visit to Maputo. They regarded this commitment as something that
would prove the practicality of cooperation between countries of
the south, and said it was their intention to increase still
further mutual assistance in areas where one or other of their
countries has a greater advantage.

The communiqué added that since Lula's visit, the two countries
have exchanged technical missions which "have dealt with the op-
erational aspects for the installation of laboratories for the
production of anti-retrovirals". Not only was Brazil determined
to build the factory, but it would also guarantee the training
of the Mozambican staff who would operate the plant.

The two presidents added that they would do all in their power
to ensure that more countries of the south became aware that,
faced with the continued refusal of the north to change the
rules governing world economics, only south-south cooperation
could save developing countries.

They declared that "in the collective exercise of establishing a
new international development paradigm, the group of developing
countries should take on a preponderant role in a real effort to
promote south-south solidarity and partnership".

For Chissano and Lula, the unequal terms of trade imposed by the
industrialised countries of the north have been the main cause
perpetuating the socio-economic backwardness of the so-called
third world. They warned that, without a mutually advantageous
trading system, it would be difficult to achieve progress and
prosperity in developing countries.

The presidents argued that "incorporation of developing coun-
tries into the global economy necessarily involves access, with-
out discrimination, to the markets of the rich countries". They
noted the huge imbalances in international trade rules, and
stressed in particular the importance of the negotiations on ag-
riculture, since "this is a sector in which the countries of the
south enjoy greater competitiveness, but it is also where there
are huge distortions". To eliminate these distortions, Chissano
and Lula urged the G-20 group that has been leading the southern
countries in negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
to do all they could to defend the national interests of devel-
oping countries.