Home > Foreign relations of Brazil
Traditionally, Brazil has been a leader in the inter-American community and has played an important role in collective security efforts, as well as in economic cooperation in the Western Hemisphere. Brazil supported the Allies in both World Wars. During World War II, its expeditionary force in Italy played a key role in the Allied victory at Monte Castello . It is a party to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) and a member of the Organization of American States (OAS). Recently, Brazil has given high priority to expanding relations with its South American neighbors and is a founding member of the Amazon Pact , the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), and Mercosul ( Mercosur in Spanish), an imperfect customs union including Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil. Along with Argentina, Chile, and the United States, Brazil is one of the guarantors of the Peru-Ecuador peace process. Brazil is a charter member of the United Nations and participates in many of its specialized agencies. It has contributed troops to UN peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East, the former Belgian Congo, Cyprus, MozambiqueMozambique is a country in Southern Africa, bordering South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe. It is a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the Commonwealth of Nations. Its capital and largest city is Maputo, located, AngolaThis article is about the nation, for the prison see Angola Prison Angola is a country in southwestern Africa bordering Namibia, Congo-Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville and Zambia and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean. A former Portuguese colony, it ha, and more recently East TimorThe Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste commonly known as East Timor is an island nation in Southeast Asia, consisting of the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, a political exclave of East Timor and HaitiHaiti is a country situated on the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba; the Dominican Republic shares Hispaniola with Haiti. A former French colony, it was one of the first countries of the Americas, after the Unit. Brazil has been a member of the UN Security Council four times, most recently 1998-2000.As Brazil's domestic economy has grown and diversified, the country has become increasingly involved in international politics and economics. The United States, western Europe, and JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh are primary markets for Brazilian exports and sources of foreign lending and investment. Brazil has also bolstered its commitment to nonproliferation through ratification of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), signing a fullscale nuclear safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy AgencyIAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957, seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. United States President Eisenhower envisioned, (IAEA), acceeding to the Treaty of Tlatelolco, and becoming a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Recently, Brazil has been considerably reluctant to help forming the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement, leaving more controversial issues up to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Disputes - international:
Two short sections of boundary with Uruguay are in dispute - Arroio Invernada (Arroyo de la Invernada) area of the Rio Quarai (Rio Cuareim) and the islands at the confluence of the Rio Quarai and the Uruguay River.
Illicit drugs:
Limited illicit producer of cannabis, minor coca cultivation in the Amazon region, mostly used for domestic consumption; government has a large-scale eradication program to control cannabis; important transshipment country for Bolivian, Colombian, and Peruvian cocaine headed for the United States and Europe; increasingly used by traffickers as a way station for narcotics air transshipments between Peru and Colombia; upsurge in drug-related violence and weapons smuggling.
