Brazil's Evolving Role in the Americas
April 10, 2012 - 4:00 pm
Brazil-US Relations
H.E. Ambassador Luiz Felipe De Seixas Corrêa, Consul General Brazil
A New Global Player in the Americas: Brazil as a Bric
Thomas Trebat, Columbia University
Comments on Brazil’s Role in the Americas
Mauricio Font, Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies
Economic and political achievements since the 1990s have turned Brazil into the 6th largest economy and into an increasingly assertive player in global affairs. These developments have important consequences for South America, the rest of Latin America, and the Western Hemisphere as a whole. President Dilma Rousseff’s visit to the United States (April 9) and the upcoming VI Summit of the Americas (April 14-15, Colombia) present a great opportunity to discuss Brazil’s changing role in the Americas. This panel deepens on on-going study of Brazil at the Bildner Center.
Ambassador Seixas Corrêa was appointed as Brazil’s Consul General in New York in August 2011 and brings to his new duties a distinguished diplomatic career. He has served twice as Deputy-Minister of External Relations (1992-1993 ; 1999-2001) and represented Brazil as head of mission in Mexico (1989- 1992), Spain (1993-1997), Argentina (1997-1998), Germany (2005-2008), and the Holy See and the Order of Malta (Rome) (2009-2011). In 2002-2005 he was Permanent Representative of Brazil to the World Trade Organization and to the United Nations in Geneva. Ambassador Seixas Corrêa has also represented Brazil in many international conferences under the aegis of the United Nations and Mercosul. He was member of the Brazilian delegation to the WTO Ministerials of Doha (2001) and Cancun (2003). In Geneva, he chaired the WTO Working Group on Investment (2002/2003) and the International Negotiating Body (INB) of the World Health Organization that successfully negotiated and approved the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (2002/2003).
Thomas J. Trebat is Executive Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies and of the Institute’s Center for Brazilian Studies. Prior to joining ILAS in February 2005, Dr. Trebat worked for Citigroup, Bankers Trust, the Ford Foundation, and Chemical Bank focusing on economic research in Latin America and the Caribbean. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt University and remains active in teaching and publishing. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the author of Brazil’s State-Owned Enterprises: A Case Study of the State as Entrepreneur (1983).
Mauricio Font is director of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies and professor of sociology at The Graduate Center and Queens College, City University of New York. His research examines problems of development and reform in Brazil, Cuba and Latin America as well as international cooperation in the Western Hemisphere.
