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DE RUEHBR #0531/01 1131236
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O 221236Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1468
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 6724
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 5445
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 6120
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 7324
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 0272
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 7931
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 6041
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 1912

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000531 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA MCMULLEN AND WHA/BSC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2018 
TAGS: PREL ECON SNAR EINV MARR SOCI SENV ENRG BO
IR, BR 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR, BRAZIL'S FOREIGN MINISTER REVIEW 
BILATERAL ISSUES, BOLIVIA, IRAN 
 
REF: 2007 BRASILIA 1368 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR CLIFFORD M. SOBEL, REASON 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  The Ambassador met with Minister for 
External Relations Celso Amorim on April 3 to review the 
state of play on several bilateral initiatives.  Amorim 
agreed to help move forward the Tropical Forests Conservation 
Act (TFCA) debt swap and the counternarcotics letter of 
agreement (LOA).  He indicated interest in extending from 
five to ten years the validity for business visas, a high 
priority item in the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum, and agreed that 
it was important to include high-impact non-governmental 
representatives in the bilateral working group being set up 
under the new joint action plan to fight racial 
discrimination.  Amorim said that Defense Minister Nelson 
Jobim's trip appeared to have advanced cooperation in 
concrete ways, but complained that technology transfer issues 
were still a problem.  The Ambassador raised US interest in 
both a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and a tax treaty, 
and informed Amorim that Brazil's request for approval for 
Santa Catarina state beef and pork exports is being reviewed 
in Washington.  He raised his interest in seeing the U.S. 
remove the tariff on sugar cane-based ethanol, and said he 
would be happy to meet with Energy Secretary Bodman when he 
visits Brazil in May.  Amorim told the Ambassador that, at 
Bolivia's request, he was planning to travel the next day to 
La Paz to see how Brazil could help mediate the conflict 
there; although he sees no easy answer, he believes both 
sides are amenable to outside help.  Amorim and the 
Ambassador briefly discussed the Middle East peace process 
and, in a one-on-one at the end of the meeting, the 
Ambassador raised our concerns about Iran.  Amorim said 
Brazil is not considering new investments in Iran and that no 
high-level visits are "imminent"--but they are possible.  End 
summary. 
 
The Secretary's Travels 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Ambassador, joined by PolCouns (notetaker), met 
on April 3 for about fifty minutes with Foreign Minister 
Amorim.  Amorim was joined by chief of staff Ambassador Maria 
Nazareth Azevedo, Counselor Ricardo Maschietto Ayrosa, who 
handles North America and Asia for Amorim, and North America 
Office Director Counselor Joao Tabajara.  The Ambassador 
began by showing Amorim pictures from the Secretary's March 
14 visit to Salvador, Bahia.  Amorim was clearly pleased that 
she had taken him up on his suggestion, and that she had 
enjoyed the visit, saying, "It was a good decision on her 
part to go, and on my part not to go." 
 
¶3. (C) The Ambassador asked Amorim for his views on 
developments in the Middle East.  Amorim asked the Ambassador 
to pass along his congratulations to the Secretary for her 
most recent trip, noting that she had focused on humanitarian 
issues among the Palestinians, which the two had discussed 
during their March 13 meeting. 
 
Review of Bilateral Initiatives 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) The Ambassador raised the following bilateral 
initiatives with Amorim: 
 
-- TFCA: The Ambassador told Amorim that Treasury had secured 
USD 30 million in funding, the largest program so far for a 
single country, but that we need to move quickly to conclude 
the agreement because the money must be obligated before the 
end of the fiscal year.  Amorim said he was unaware of the 
TFCA, but agreed to look into it and asked Nazareth for a 
briefing.  (NOTE: Reftel reports Treasury Secretary 
Paulson,s conversation with Amorim regarding the TFCA.  End 
note.) 
 
-- Counternarcotics LOA:  The Ambassador raised the LOA, 
noting that INL had responded to comments from Itamaraty (the 
Foreign Ministry) and that a working level meeting was 
planned for the following week with Virginia Toniatti, head 
of the Office to Coordinate the Fight Against Transnational 
Crimes (COCIT), to go over our responses.  We were concerned, 
 
BRASILIA 00000531  002 OF 003 
 
 
the Ambassador said, that Toniatti had indicated that 
Itamaraty had additional concerns, and hoped that we could 
finalize the LOA soon.  Amorim agreed to look into it. 
 
-- Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial Discrimination:  The 
Ambassador told Amorim that he had just met with the 
Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), which had expressed 
enthusiasm for helping implement the Joint Action Plan.  The 
Ambassador indicated his interest in finding appropriate 
high-impact non-governmental representatives to serve on the 
working group that will be established under the Plan, and 
suggested that Itamaraty should be considering this, as well. 
 When the Ambassador suggested that one idea would be to ask 
a member of the Congressional Black Caucus to be a member, 
Amorim agreed that congressional representation from both 
sides would be valuable, and indicated they would consider 
the issue. 
 
-- Extension of NIV Terms:  The Ambassador noted that 
extension of the terms of NIVs was an issue being addressed 
in the bilateral CEO Forum.  Amorim agreed, saying that the 
first step was to ensure that changes to the relevant 
legislation being drawn up by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) 
did nothing to prejudice that possibility.  He asked Nazareth 
to get in touch with MOJ to make them aware of the issue. 
 
-- Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT): The Ambassador noted 
that there is a great deal of Brazilian and US private sector 
interest in a BIT.  Amorim stated the problem had always been 
an appearance of discrimination against domestic companies, 
claiming the BIT gave foreign companies differential access 
to arbitration mechanisms outside the Brazilian court system. 
 He thought he had read that the U.S. might be changing its 
model in a way that would make this less of an issue.  The 
Ambassador agreed to get back to him on that (NOTE:  Post 
confirmed with EB/OIA that no changes to the 2004 Model BIT 
are being considered, and will convey this to MRE officials). 
 The Ambassador also asked if we could see the investment 
agreement Brazil was developing with Argentina, which would 
help us see what Brazil found acceptable.  Amorim agreed to 
provide it. (Note: The Finanance Ministry (Fazenda) has told 
us they want to negotiate a BIT with Argentina, but it is 
still in the works.  End note.) 
 
-- Bilateral Tax Treaty:  The Ambassador told Amorim that he 
was going to be hosting a lunch April 10 with key business 
people and legislators to discuss possibilities for a 
bilateral tax treaty.  He suggested that we could work 
together effectively to sway the Brazilian congress on the 
matter.  Amorim was skeptical that Itamaraty could have much 
impact, asserting that Brazil's revenue agency (Receita 
Federal) continues to resist, and that in congress it was a 
question of economic philosophy, rather than practical 
issues, that was generating opposition.  Amorim felt that the 
CEO Forum was the right group to work the issue, and that 
pressure from Brazilian multinationals would be important to 
make it happen.  The Ambassador agreed to provide Itamaraty a 
readout from the lunch. 
 
-- Brazilian Beef Exports: In the wake of growing pressure 
from Brazilian producers for access to the U.S. market for 
Brazilian meat products, the Ambassador informed Amorim that 
Brazil's request for approval for Santa Catarina state beef 
and pork exports is being considered.  Amorim was pleased to 
hear this, noting that it was a growing issue. 
 
-- Defense Cooperation: The Ambassador invited Amorim to fly 
with him onto the deck of the USS George Washington when it 
visits Brazil in late April for UNITAS exercises.  He 
provided a brief readout of Defense Minister Jobim's trip, 
noting in particular the support Jobim had received for his 
idea of a South American Defense Council, and that we had 
agreed to establish a working group on technology transfer. 
Amorim said that he understood that a sale of troop transport 
vehicles looked likely.  He noted that third-country transfer 
restrictions continued to be a sore spot, citing USG 
prohibition on sales of Tucanos to Venezuela.  He conceded 
that, even had the sale gone forward, Venezuela would likely 
have bought Russian fighters.  He added, however, that it 
made it impossible for Brazil to argue that Venezuela should 
not purchase the fighters.  The inability of Brazil to sell 
 
BRASILIA 00000531  003 OF 003 
 
 
the Tucanos highlighted to Venezuela the dependent 
relationship created by arms purchases from the United 
States. 
 
-- Biofuels and Bodman Visit: Amorim raised removal of the 
U.S. tariff on sugar cane-based ethanol as a priority for the 
GOB.  The Ambassador noted that Energy Secretary Bodman was 
scheduled to come in mid-May, and Amorim said he would be 
pleased to meet with him, schedule permitting. 
 
-- Embassy Aircraft: Amorim and Nazareth indicated they were 
aware the ball was in their court in terms of approval for 
stationing a C-12 in Brazil.  They indicated that a meeting 
would be held the following week between Itamaraty and 
Ministry of Defense officials to determine how to proceed, 
and committed to providing a readout immediately afterward. 
 
Brazil to Engage on Bolivia Problem 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) The Ambassador asked about news reports that Brazil 
had agreed to help mediate between the Bolivian government 
and opposition.  Amorim confirmed that the Bolivian 
government had asked Brazil to engage with a number of other 
countries, and said that he was planning to leave the next 
day for La Paz for an initial assessment of how Brazil could 
help.  He said that he was pleased that the Argentine foreign 
minister and Colombian vice minister were there, and that 
they would meet separately after their respective trips to 
compare notes and explore ideas for moving forward.  Amorim 
stressed that he saw no easy answers to the current crisis. 
Even if terms acceptable to both sides could be found, it 
would take months to reach an agreement.  Despite press 
reports to the contrary, Amorim said the opposition seems 
open to Brazil's engagement and understands the potential for 
other countries to be helpful.  Amorim acknowledged that 
there was some pressure to act, as the referendum planned for 
the end of May would certainly exacerbate the problems. 
 
Iran 
---- 
 
¶6. (C) At the conclusion of the meeting, the Ambassador 
pulled Amorim aside to express our continuing concern about 
Iran, particularly as we move to implement the most recent UN 
sanctions.  Amorim said that there would be no new Brazilian 
investment in Iran.  The Ambassador added that there is 
concern about the appearance of high-level visits at this 
time, as well.  Amorim bristled somewhat, insisting that 
Brazil considers itself a friend of both the United States 
and Iran.  He suggested that, should the United States decide 
to engage Iran, countries like Brazil that had maintained 
friendly relations with Iran could prove useful. 
Nonetheless, he said, no high-level visits are 
"imminent"--but they are possible. 
SOBEL