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DE RUEHBR #0206/01 0371424
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FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8033
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000206 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2017 
TAGS: PREL BR
SUBJECT: INSIGHT INTO BRAZILIAN FM AMORIM FOREIGN POLICY 
FROM DUTCH FM BOT 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR CLIFFORD SOBEL REASONS: 1.4 (B)(D). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. Dutch Foreign Minister Bot met with Brazilian 
Foreign Minister Amorim recently during his visit to Brazil. 
Ambassador Sobel was briefed by the Dutch Mission and gained 
insights particularly into Brazil's ideas on a UN Security 
Council seat, views on Syria from his recent meeting with the 
Syrian President -- including Bot's own view, and a 
discussion on possible NATO roles in Latin America to help 
the security situation. Jores Gurriens, first secretary of 
the Embassy of the Netherlands, who attended all of Bot's 
meetings, also briefed poloff on other accomplishments during 
the visit, including the signature of two Memorandums of 
Understanding (MOUs) with the GoB, one on strengthening 
political cooperation and the second opening the door for 
Dutch investors to receive economic incentives to do business 
in North and Northeastern Brazil under the Dutch PSOM 
program. End Summary. 
 
------------------------ 
UN Security Council Seat 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (C) Bot said that when discussing UN reforms and the G 4, 
Amorim mentioned Brazil's goal in obtaining a seat on the 
UNSC. Amorim said that the idea of Brazil having a 
semi-permanent seat is acceptable if Brazil would have the 
right of reelection. Amorim also said that Brazil would be 
amenable to the idea of a trial period for the new seat. 
 
---------------------- 
Syria and the Mideast 
---------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Bot said that Amorim had noted that Brazil has an 
increasing interest in Syria. Bot mentioned that during his 
visit with the Syrian President, the President said that its 
borders with Lebanon are secure and there is no proof of any 
arms movement between the countries. In fact, Bot strongly 
suggested the USG engage more with Syria. 
 
--------------------- 
NATO in Latin America 
--------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Bot broached the subject of the possibility of NATO 
helping to provide a security role in Latin America, saying 
that there are countries that provide security and those that 
need security. Bot said there are many ways to cooperate with 
NATO and proposed the possibility of Brazil working more 
closely with NATO. Amorim said that NATO is an American-led 
organization. Bot clarified that when NATO operates out of 
region that it operates under a UN mandate, and the US is 
only one of the many members of NATO. Amorim received that 
proposal with expected reticence, but did not dismiss the 
idea outright, saying he was interested in learning more. Bot 
believes that there will be room for future discussions. 
Brazil would only be interested if the UN was the key 
mechanism for possible NATO coordinated security actions. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
MOUs on Political Relations and Economic Development 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶5. (C) Gurriens said that the MOU on strengthening political 
relations was non-specific and left room for future 
 
BRASILIA 00000206  002 OF 003 
 
 
discussions on a number of issues. Multilaterally, Gurriens 
said Foreign Ministers Bot and Amorim also discussed the 
United Nations, specifically the Human Rights Council, since 
both Brazil and the Netherlands are members. A contentious 
point is the opposing views on the use of country specific 
resolutions; the Netherlands often supports using them 
whereas Brazil's official position is to oppose using them 
unless there is a particularly egregious violation. He noted 
that the Brazilians believe human rights arguments are often 
by the economic interests of individual countries, 
specifically noting weak stances against China and forceful 
but poorly justified arguments against Cuba. In the bilateral 
arena, Gurriens said that the Dutch have an interest in the 
common cultural heritage with Brazil resulting from the 
Netherlands' brief rule in the 16th Century of Northeastern 
Brazil. He said that although there is little that has 
remained from that period, the Netherlands is interested in 
working with Brazil to preserve art and documents from that 
era. 
 
¶6. (C) Gurriens described the second MOU as the opening of a 
new instrument for economic cooperation between the 
Netherlands and the North and North Eastern parts of Brazil. 
This instrument is known by the Dutch acronym PSOM, which 
stands for Program for Cooperation with Emerging Markets. 
Gurriens said the Netherlands had strong environmental 
cooperation with Brazil until 2005 when the program began its 
phasing out stage. PSOM has been an effective development 
tool in 40-50 countries, and now with this MOU, small to 
medium-sized Dutch firms will be paid incentives, up to 
650,000 Euros, to cover start up costs incurred while 
investing in developing areas of Brazil. (Note: More 
information on PSOM is available at www.evd.nl/PSOM. End 
Note.) 
 
---------------------------------- 
Venezuela, Bolivia and Other Topics 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) The ministers also discussed the regional situation, 
including Venezuela and Bolivia. Amorim stuck to the 
Itamaraty paradigm -- &better to integrate than to isolate8 
-- when referring to Brazil,s foreign policy toward these 
countries. However, Amorim did admit that since Venezuela 
joined Mercosul negotiations have become more difficult, but 
he said about Chavez "his bite is not as bad as his bark". 
Amorim also noted that Brazilian relations with Bolivia are 
improving since Bolivia is become more pragmatic as Brazil is 
becoming more skeptical of Venezuela. Gurriens explained that 
Chavez,s Venezuela is an area for Dutch concern since the 
Dutch Antilles are in such close proximity. Gurriens noted 
that Bolivia is the Netherlands largest development project 
partner in the region. He said that Amorim commented that in 
the first months of his presidency, Morales was all over the 
board and unpredictable due to the learning curve of his new 
office; however, now Amorim sees him as having become more 
moderate, as demonstrated by his firing of his previous 
Minister of Energy. Amorim said that Morales has learned that 
Bolivia must guarantee investments so that it can maintain 
stable economic partnerships. 
 
¶8. (C) Gurriens' said there also was discussion of 
Dutch-Brazilian cooperation in the area of natural gas, 
noting that after WWII, the Netherlands used its natural gas 
as a path toward its own economic development and that the 
Netherlands would be interested in providing technical 
 
BRASILIA 00000206  003 OF 003 
 
 
expertise for the development of this industry in Brazil. 
 
SOBEL