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Nepal-Brazil Relations
Political
Brazil is the largest country in South America. It occupies eastern half of South America with an area of 33, 00, 171 sq. mile. To the north of Brazil are French Guiana, Surinam, Guyana and Venezuela. Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina border Brazil on the west and Uruguay on the south.
Diplomatic relations between Nepal and Brazil was established on February 7, 1976. Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations is concurrently accredited to Brazil and Brazil’s Ambassador to India have been concurrently accredited to respective country Brazil has maintained an Honorary Consulate in Kathmandu.
Nepal and Brazil have always enjoyed a friendly relation. Notwithstanding the geographical distance, both the countries hold similar views to promote the interests of developing countries in order to achieve the objective of a just and equitable new international order.
Exchange of Visits
Then Prime Minister Mr. Girija Prasad Koirala led a Nepalese delegation to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 3 to 14 June 1992. The then Minister for Health Mr. Sharat Singh Bhandari paid a visit to Brazil from 29 to 31 January 2002. These visits helped to develop better understanding between the two countries. However, there has been no noticeable exchange of visits between the two countries in recent years.
Meeting of the World Leaders
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had taken an initiative to organize meeting of the world leaders on 20th September 2004 on the eve of the 59th regular session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York to discuss the concrete solutions for the promotion of greater international cooperation and the increase of available resources to face global challenges, namely the elimination of hunger and poverty in the world. This initiative was aimed at addressing the acute problems facing the developing countries. In this connection the Brazilian President had sent an invitation to His Majesty the King.
While welcoming this initiative of the Brazilian President, His Majesty sent a reply assuring him of close cooperation of the leader of the Nepalese delegation to the 59th session of the UNGA with the Brazilian delegation to achieve the objectives of the President's noble endeavour.
Economic Cooperation
There has been no significant economic cooperation in the economic field between the two countries. Nepal and Brazil have to put their endeavor to give a concrete shape of the existing trade volume in sharing experience in areas like hydro power development. As Brazil has the world’s largest hydropower potentials, Nepal may benefit from the experience and expertise acquired by Brazil in harnessing water resources. Both the countries can explore the opportunities for cooperation in the areas of mutual interest such as agriculture and agro-business, joint venture in industries, trade, tourism and environmental protection, among others.
The Major items of the Nepalese export constituted handbags, handmade papers and paperboard, carpet and garments, Nepal imports crude soybean oil, printing sensitive plate, soybean oil, chewing gum, refrigerators, sugar confectionary and citrus fruits. With Brazil, we have a negative trade balance which is widening up in the past 3 years. The following figure reflects the exports to and from Brazil over the past few years.
| Value in '000 Rs. |
| Year |
Export |
Import |
Trade Balance |
| 2000/01 |
54035 |
29603 |
24432 |
| 2001/02 |
12192 |
149222 |
-137029 |
| 2002/03 |
1438 |
19113 |
-17674 |
| 2003/04 |
1978 |
293426 |
-291448 |
Cultural Cooperation
A team of Globo Television Network of Brazil visited Nepal from 29 to 30 June 2004. The main purpose of their trip was to show the beauty and richness of Nepalese culture and nature to the wider Brazilian audience. Such efforts not only extend positive impact on the Nepalese tourism, but also create the atmosphere of further deepening the friendship between the people of two countries.
Tourism
A number of Brazilian tourist arrivals to Nepal is quite low in comparison to other South American countries. The following figures show the tourist arrivals from Brazil in recent years.
| Year |
Number |
| 2001 |
697 |
| 2002 |
377 |
| 2003 |
639 |
| 2004 |
1393 |
Europe America Division
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Government of Nepal
Last updated on April 3, 2006
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