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UNCLAS BRASILIA 001252 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP, WHA/BSC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNGA BR
SUBJECT: 63RD UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY: BRAZILIAN PRIORITIES 
 
REF: SECSTATE 99672 
 
¶1.  Poloff discussed this year's UNGA with Ministry of 
External Relations (MRE) UN Division Director Gilda Neves. 
Brazil will be represented by President Lula and Foreign 
Mininster Amorim.  Both will have extensive schedules of 
bilateral meetings.  Lula is spending more time than planned 
in New York due to the cancellation of a planned visit to 
Canada.  Amorim will meet with Secretary Rice.   According to 
Neves, the MRE favors increasing bilateral U.S. Brazilian 
consultations on UN-related issues, especially peacekeeping 
in Haiti and other regional security questions.  Amorim will 
also be prepared to brief on Brazilian views of the situation 
in Bolivia and Brazil's efforts to play a moderating role. 
The MRE has recommended several themes for President Lula's 
remarks to the General Assembly, especially the need for 
development assistance for Africa, support to the UN 
Millenium Development Goals and the importance of enhancing 
regional integration mechanisms, for example UNASUL.  Lula is 
also expected to make a case for increased civilian 
assistance to Haiti in the wake of this year's active 
hurricane season and for strengthening Haiti's governmental 
institutions.  The president will also advocate support for 
elections in Africa.  Brazil would like to send monitors to 
Guinea Bissau's October elections, but these fall at the same 
time as Brazil's own municipal elections, the running of 
which will occupy Brazil's election experts. 
 
¶2.  As usual, Brazil's top priority for this year's UNGA will 
be Security Council reform.  For Brazil, this is defined 
narrowly as obtaining a new permanent seat on the UNSC. 
Brazil believes its size, regional influence and gorwing 
economy entitle it to the status a permanent seat conveys. 
Neves said Brazil was pleased with the recent decision to 
move toward inter-governmental negotiations as Brazil was 
frustrated by the lack of progress in the open ended working 
group.  She expressed her government's view that there was 
little chance that inter governmental negotiations would lead 
to consensus and that the issue would ultimately lead to a 
vote in the General Assembly.  "A vote is the way things are 
done in the UN." she said.  Neves also stated that the U.S. 
view that reform of the UNSC should only take place in the 
context of broader UN reform was well known, but Brazil's 
priority was on a Security Council seat. 
 
¶3.  Neves had few comments on other USG priorities as 
described in reftel.  Brazil is still assessing the question 
of a request for an ICJ opinion on Kosovo's declaration of 
independence.  President Lula will likely meet Serbian 
President Tadic in New York, but Lula's priority will be to 
gain support for Brazil's UNSC aspirations and for commercial 
opportunities; Kosovo is not on Lula's agenda.  Neves was 
interested in plans to expand UN missions in Afghanistan and 
Iraq and whether these expansions were related to changes in 
U.S. military presence.  Brazil strongly supports completion 
of the Millenium Development goals, and President Lula plans 
to participate in a meeting on this subject September 25. 
SOBEL