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Jair Bolsonaro arrived in Brazil on Friday (25) and Davos is no longer the subject of the moment. Great, then you can take a less immediate and more vivid look at your presence at the event, with a complete picture. Moreover, given the periodicity of these columns, it would not be like before. The debate over the presence of the Brazilian president at the ceremony in Switzerland focused largely on the length of his speech. The fact is that it was a missed opportunity from the beginning.
Expectations are high
And this has an explanation, there are reasons for this badysis. Of the ten largest economies in the world, only Brazil, Japan, Germany and Italy have sent their maximum executive representative. Donald Trump, president of the world's largest economy, was absent due to the closure of the federal government. Macron remained in France because of the popular pressure exerted by the yellow jackets. Canadian Justin Trudeau was severely criticized last year for the cost of the trip and did not cross the Atlantic. Modi will face elections in India in a few months and China has sent the regime's number three, Vice President Wang Qishan.
Among those present, Japan's Shinzo Abe has been Japan's prime minister since 2012, and Angela Merkel has been Germany's chancellor since 2005, far from being a news item for the forum audience; how they think, what they want, how they want, their plans, all this is well known. The novelty would be Giuseppe Conte, the new Italian Prime Minister, but who suffers from two problems. First, it is an inexperienced man who took the position as an "intermediate" figure who is not very expressive in the coalition between the Five Star parties and the former Nord League League.
The main actors in Italian politics are today the two party leaders, Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini respectively. They make the headlines. The second problem is that the debate on the Italian economy revolves around its relations with the European Union, which are waiting for the future of Brexit, a dispute that explains the last absence of the top 10 in Davos, Theresa May. the British minister. And Brexit cast a shadow over all the European leaders present, even the youngest ones.
Basically, the news from the field forum of government leaders was Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe; Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa; and Iván Duque, President of Colombia. The first two want to attract investment in the mining sector and must deny the suspicions that they are the mere continuity of the predecessors Mugabe and Zuma. And Duke as a leader of a now more peaceful Colombia, wishing to demonstrate an attractive stability for international investors.
A dose of reality. To sum up the three economies mentioned, Brazil's GDP is still more than double the result. In terms of area, Brazil is three times larger than the three countries combined. The Brazilian population does not reach double the other populations added, but is more important. These are just some of the objective clues to justify that it is not a lack of respect for Colombian neighbors or that African countries have indicated that Brazil has a much greater weight and economic attractiveness.
Another contributing factor is that, in recent years, the international community has moved away from Brazil because it understands that the Michel Temer government was an expired government, with little support for sustainable measures. Then, after about two years, a newly elected president of one of the largest economies in the world arrives in Davos, always surfing on the electoral prestige and having no major competitors to the attention of the present. And that would always be the opening speech of the forum! Bolsonaro had the knife and cheese in hand to be the star of the event. Great justified expectations
The opening in Davos
Bolsonaro landed in Zurich on the afternoon of Monday 21; The distance to Davos includes a journey of about two hours by car. His first date was on Tuesday 22nd at 15:30 local time, with Bolsonaro's lonely and well-publicized luncheon on a package or something as his first missed opportunity. Was lunch before the opening? C & # 39; was. This does not mean that it could not be better appreciated, with a working lunch with dignitaries or businessmen present.
It is important to keep in mind that such events are very useful for parallel meetings, on the sidelines of official occasions. In Davos itself, the new Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan were outside the agenda. For more than an hour, rival historians have discussed the normalization of relationships. And this is just one example of the importance, perhaps even greater than the main event, of private meetings.
After the lonely lunch, Bolsonaro opened the event. Of the thirty minutes to which he was entitled, he used six; it can be easily viewed or read by official channels. And here the problem is not the duration itself; the speech was objective and it is a valid oratory method. The fact is that it was just an introduction! Not because it's confusing or lack of time, but apparently by choice. Several ideas present could be better developed, especially for the current audience.
The president himself begins by saying that there was "a great opportunity to show the world the unique moment in which we live in my country and to present to all the new Brazil we are building". This was followed by electoral comments for the internal audience, with "we have the credibility to implement the reforms we need and the world expects of us all".
And nothing of the "construction" of this "new Brazil" was presented; the quotes are given because it was simply the intention of the president. The speech was a great letter of intent, which can often be marked with "how?" Or something equivalent. There was no substance. He has reduced tourism to the issue of violence. "(…) privatize and balance the public accounts". Privatize what? Balancing public accounts like?
Another vague phrase: "Save our values and open our economy." Which values? Which opening? It can work in elections, but not to convince investors. And again, there was time to deepen and deepen at least one of the points. Added to vague comments, perhaps even unjust or proud comments. For example, stating that "for the first time in Brazil, a president has formed a team of qualified ministers" or that "the sectors that criticize us have in fact much to learn from us".
Not to mention the unreasonable comments, which may seem like a waste of time to introduce the leaders. Does discussing different perspectives on gestational abortion have value and importance in politics? Without a doubt. Was this a relevant topic for the Davos forum? No. "Defend the family and the real rights of man." In a forum that advocates the defense of diversity and what would be "real" human rights, as well as an argumentative sophistry? Finally, the electoral slogan of "God above all".
It is repeated: the speech was objective and had an argumentative core. He adopted the idea of valuing democracy and the environment, two of Bolsonaro's criticisms and suspicions of the international community. Overall, however, it was more like an intentionally vague letter of intent. A lack of definition by choice, at a time when Bolsonaro had all eyes on him. By way of comparison, Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, spoke by video conference for 26 minutes. Shinzo Abe for about 25 minutes.
The Abe speech is the antithesis of Bolsonaro. Full of figures, objective data, comparative parameters of years of government, themes such as the G20 and Japanese regional partnerships, such as Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT), percentages on climate change. And Shinzo Abe is a conservative politician whose nationalistic standards are strict in Japan. The comparison is not ideological. It's quality. The opening of Bolsonaro was a vague, brief and weak speech, which seduced no one and disputed nothing.
The rest of the agenda
Bolsonaro also attended the meeting of the International Business Council and the opening dinner organized by Professor Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, and the Swiss presidency. In this case, many dinner images circulated with the intention of "compensating" Bolsonaro's solitary breakfast, as if one of the things had to cancel the other. Bolsonaro was at the table with Tim Cook, Apple's CEO and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Alongside him, Presidential Assistant Filipe Martins.
The next day, working lunch and bilateral meetings between Italian Giuseppe Conte, Swiss President Ueli Maurer and Shinzo Abe. He also participated in the diplomatic dialogue table and dined with other Latin American state leaders. In this case, the Venezuelan subject was certainly at the heart of the discussions. And that comes out of the meeting with Shinzo Abe. Relations between Japan and Brazil are of paramount importance. Japan is a leading economy and both countries have deep cultural ties due to immigration.
In addition, this relationship, which was shaken by the Dilma Rousseff government, still has a lot to gain with the cancellation of the trip and the tea chair of the Japanese prince Akishino. Japan represents only 1.8% of Brazilian exports, a slight deficit for Brazil. Besides a working lunch, on the 24th, bilateral meetings were held with Prime Ministers of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, and Chéquia, Andrej Babis, and with the Presidents of Poland, Andrzej Duda of Ukraine , Petro Poroshenko, South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa and Colombia, Iván Duque.
In this case, Bolsonaro somewhat contradicted his remarks in the opening speech by saying that Brazil would adopt a foreign policy "in which the ideological bias would cease to exist". The choice of two leaders of Visegrad was made by ideological affinities, when leaders of countries with a much greater weight in Brazilian trade were present, such as Pedro Sanchez of Spain or Angela Merkel of Germany, a country that joins the G4 in Brazil. An approach with South Africa is already important for the society of both international bodies, such as the BRICS.
An episode, however, symbolizes the missed opportunity in Davos. The Brazilian delegation canceled the 23rd press conference. This took the organization and the press by surprise; importantly, the current press was not only Brazilian. Bolsonaro left Davos without giving a press conference. He spoke only for specific vehicles such as Bloomberg or before the mixed zones and journalists bent at the door of the hotel
The collective would be entrusted to three ministers: Sérgio Moro, Paulo Guedes and Ernesto Araújo. She ran the picture of the empty chairs with the identification plates. There were also different versions of the cancellation pattern. One would be the health of the president, which is understandable, but that would not prevent his ministers from expressing it. In particular, Guedes was very well received in his speeches during panels and interviews. In addition, Moro was present on the site and was also surprised by the cancellation.
The different versions and their interpretations do not matter much here. The fact is that when asked about this, Bolsonaro talked about his condition and said, "I had no news to present to the press at that time". President, you are new. Your government, your ministers, all this is new. For other leaders, leaders, investors, badysts, commentators, for all. The exhibition of ideas, projects and visions should have been as big as possible.
Not understanding that this is the big news explains the waste of opportunities. The spotlight was all on Brazil and the country was smiling and waving. Brazil will hardly have the same opportunity, in the coming years, to be greeted with high expectations, such as the big news, the new player in the global scenario. No big competitors to attract attention. At best, there are only four years left, perhaps eight years, maybe not. In a year that promises turbulence in the global economy, the beginnings could have been much better.
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