On 17 November, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a strategic partnership agreement. The signing, said a presidential statement, marks a high point in the 100-year history of Egyptian-Brazilian diplomatic ties.

“The elevation of relations between the two countries to a strategic partnership reflects our shared commitment to the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and other globally accepted rules of international law,” read the statement.

The two countries, it continued, are committed to developing a dynamic action plan to implement the partnership. It will include intensifying diplomatic consultations, deepening bilateral relations, exchanging visits between high-ranking officials, addressing socio-economic challenges and promoting sustainable development. Cooperation will be enhanced across various sectors, including security, trade, industry, defence, investment, environment, agriculture, science, education, culture, sports, tourism, and the exchange of historical artefacts.

Coordination on a host of regional and global issues will be ongoing, including advancing multilateralism and the reform of international institutions, particularly the UN Security Council, so they better reflect current realities.

“The two countries will also prioritise efforts to combat poverty, hunger, and inequality as well as commitment to strengthening regional integration and boosting trade between countries of the global south,” said the statement.

“Egypt has reached strategic partnership agreements with the US, Russia, China, and Turkey, but this is the first with a Latin American country,” said Gamal Zahran, professor of political science at Suez Canal University.

“The two countries share many positions, not least on the need to reform the UN Security Council.” Zahran suggests that both countries should press for membership of the Security Council where, as regional powerhouses, they will be able to amplify the voices of developing countries and emerging economies in Africa and Latin America.
He also believes that as members of the BRICS group, which Egypt joined in January, bilateral trade will receive a boost, echoing the presidential statement which highlighted how the strategic partnership between the two countries will allow them to build on their shared BRICS membership in a spirit of respect, solidarity, and mutual understanding.

The strategic partnership agreement is the result of years of consultation between the two countries, said the statement.

Egypt and Brazil signed a memorandum of understanding on the creation of a strategic dialogue on 27 December 2009. Political consultations began on 9 December 2003, while an agreement establishing a joint Egyptian-Brazilian Coordination Committee was signed as early as 7 March 1985.
The signing of the strategic partnership came on the sidelines of President Al-Sisi’s participation in the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Al-Sisi thanked Brazilian President Lula da Silva for inviting Egypt to the summit and praised the summit’s focus on issues critical to developing countries, including the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, an initiative aimed at addressing food insecurity and social inequities.
In his speech before the summit on 18 November, Al-Sisi called for the “mobilisation of political will to reorient global priorities” and address military aggression, developing nations’ debt, the widening gap between the developed and developing world, and the urgent need for financing to meet climate goals. Al-Sisi also decried “persistent Israeli aggression on Gaza and Lebanon amid world inaction and indifference”.
Egypt’s participation in G20 summit in Brazil was its fourth as a guest, following invites in 2016 under China’s presidency, 2019 in Japan and 2023 in India.
Figures released last week by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) show that Egypt is Brazil’s second largest trading partner in Africa, with a bilateral trade exchange of $3.4 billion in 2023.
According to CAPMAS, Egyptian exports to Brazil reached $444 million in 2023, while imports from Brazil stood at $3 billion. CAPMAS figures also show that remittances of Egyptians working in Brazil reached $42.4 million in 2022, and the value of Brazilian investments in Egypt reached $2.4 million in 2021.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 28 November, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly