Military Technical Cooperation for Development – The Brazilian Perspective of Interaction for The 21st Century

Abstract

Cooperation and development are common themes of Brazilian
foreign policy. Brazil has participated in the evolution of
international cooperation for development since the beginning,
for many years as a recipient country. Recently, Brazil has become
interested in being an international protagonist in the area of
development and cooperation. Since 1999, with the creation of the
Ministry of Defense, it has been possible to think about unified
military technical cooperation (MTC). In this Brazilian outlook for
interaction in the 21st century, horizontal MTC stand out, with
Africa being an area of attention. In this paper, we analyze aspects
of Brazilian MTC with the Community of Portuguese Language
Speaking Countries (CPLP). We consider the possibility that
MTC can be presented as an element of Brazilian paradiplomacy
for development. Unlike the Organization for the Cooperation
and Economic Development (OECD), Brazil includes MTC as
an element of development cooperation, believing that security
and defense are issues directly related to development. The
recent stage of the MTC of Brazil with CPLP states has resulted
in more coherent defense, security and development policies linked
to Brazil’s interests. Brazil created the Brazilian Cooperation Agency
(ABC). However, many of the MTC projects carried out by Brazilian
armed forces with other countries are performed outside the Agency.
Therefore, we analyze MTC through projects of the ABC, Ministry of
Defense and the armed forces.