Flávio Macieira, Brazil’s designated charge d’affaires in Venezuela, reported that the Lula Da Silva government hopes to resume Brazilian exports, especially in the agricultural and food sectors. He said that attention to the Brazilian community (estimated at around 20,000 people) will be the priority in the first phase.
The Brazilian government is convinced that the normalization of relations with Venezuela will allow the resumption of bilateral trade, which fell to historic lows in the last four years, official sources said on February 1.
“There is a shared feeling” in relation to the horizon that opens up when diplomatic relations are resumed, suspended since 2019 due to a decision by then-President Jair Bolsonaro, Flávio Macieira, designated charge d’affaires in Venezuela by the new government, said at a press conference.
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According to Macieira, the embassy, the headquarters of the consulate general in Caracas and the ambassador’s residence are in perfect condition and are expected to fully function again in the shortest possible time. “Attention to the Brazilian community (estimated at around 20,000 people) will be the priority” in the first phase, explained Macieira.
The diplomat said that he found in the Maduro government “an enormous expectation” in relation to the resumption of relations with Brazil, which will be given in all fields, from the political and economic to the cultural level, as “it is natural” between two countries that share a border of about 2,000 kilometers.
“The dialogue with the entire Venezuelan society will also be resumed,” which includes the business community, which had a very intense relationship with Brazil until in 2016, after the removal of then-president Dilma Rousseff, it gradually deteriorated until fall to historic lows with Bolsonaro’s decision, he said.
According to official data, bilateral trade mobilized some 5,000 million dollars a year until 2015, but due to the Venezuelan crisis itself and the suspension of the relationship it plummeted, to nearly 800 million dollars registered in 2021.
Macieira assured that the normalization of relations can open new horizons for Brazilian exports, especially in the agricultural and food sectors.
However, he also stressed that there is room for growth in trade in products with higher added value, which in the best moments of bilateral relations came to represent almost 70% of Brazilian exports to Venezuela.
Macieira plans to return to Caracas in about ten days and there he will wait for the appointment of the new Brazilian ambassador to Venezuela, who has not yet been appointed, he reported. EFE.
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