Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
FOREIGN Affairs and International Trade Minister Professor Amon Murwira yesterday met Brazil’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Vilmar Rogeiro Coutinho, and the two discussed Harare’s application to join BRICS and cooperation in agriculture among other issues.
BRICS is an organisation made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa aimed at promoting cooperation among developing countries.
It is presently chaired by Brazil.
In an interview, Prof Murwira said they had fruitful discussions.
“We have had an excellent meeting this morning with His Excellency, the Ambassador, talking about our bilateral relationship. We also touched on multilateral issues,” he said.
“On our bilateral relationship, Zimbabwe and Brazil have excellent relations. You would know that the Minister of Agriculture was in Brazil. Brazil is very good in agriculture, agro-technology and all related things.
“And Brazil, to us, has an extremely strong and excellent attitude of cooperation, especially South-South cooperation. Brazil is a very strong country in that and it aligns very well with Zimbabwe’s vision, as expressed by President Mnangagwa, of making sure that we make a better world.”
Prof Murwira added that they also discussed Zimbabwe’s application for BRICS membership.
“We also discussed Zimbabwe’s formal application to be associated with BRICS in the categories that are deemed fit within BRICS. We are associated with BRICS because Brazil is the current chair of BRICS,” he said.
“We have had a lot of exchanges, positive and a good guidance from Brazil as chair of BRICS on steps that we have to take, which we are already taking. So it has been a very excellent meeting and we look forward to more contacts.
“Brazil is keen to work with Africa, Brazil is keen to work with Zimbabwe and our job is to make sure that happens”.
In his remarks, Ambassador Coutinho said he was honoured to exchange ideas with Prof Murwira.
“As he mentioned, yes, bilateral relations between the two countries are at an excellent level and I feel that we can still improve them even further by collaborating deeper in a number of areas, particularly in the area of agriculture, where we believe we can bring a substantial and positive support for Zimbabwe.
“Zimbabwe has just joined the Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, which for us was a very welcome movement and I am certain that the two countries will be in a position to work closely together to make the alliance a success.
“We will also try to deepen our cooperation in many other areas, including multilateral areas, as you have heard the Minister, the interest of Zimbabwe of joining the BRICS, that we are now working on this, hopefully to come to a successful conclusion on this matter very soon,” he said.
BRICS is a group of countries enjoying rapid economic growth that is emerging as a dominant economic player of the 21st century.
The term BRICS has since been adopted as the name of a formal international organisation dedicated to increasing economic and geopolitical integration and cooperation among member States.
Zimbabwe’s formal application to join the BRICS is in line with the doctrinal reference point of; “A friend to all and enemy to none,” which guides the country’s efforts to shape its foreign policy through a combination of non-alignment, active diplomacy, multilateral engagement and a strong emphasis on mutually beneficial relations.
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