KUALA LUMPUR: With Malaysia now holding the ASEAN chair, Brazil anticipates exploring various new opportunities to strengthen bilateral ties and regional diplomacy next year.
Brazil’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Ary Norton de Murat Quintella wants to see more dialogue with Malaysia, the chair of ASEAN in 2025, following many positive developments in bilateral ties between both countries this year.
“We’ve (Brazil and Malaysia) never been as close as today,” he told Bernama when interviewed recently.
Quintella said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s invitation to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to attend the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro next month is a testament to the strengthening of Brazil-Malaysia relations in the last two years.
The ambassador who is also the Dean of the Latin American Embassies in Malaysia said Brazil has been a sectoral dialogue partner of ASEAN since 2022, and since then, the country has been engaging in discussions with the bloc regarding cooperation in several areas.
According to Quintella, Brazil will be taking over BRICS (an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, and China led grouping) presidency next year and this fact makes 2025 an important year for both Brazil and Malaysia.
He said the ASEAN-Brazil Sectoral Dialogue Partnership Practical Cooperation Areas 2024-2028 identified four sectors namely political-security, economic, socio-cultural and cross-pillar cooperation.
He said the Latin American Festival, held here early this month, is one initiative in socio-cultural cooperation.
Another initiative will be the second edition of the Brazilian Film Festival scheduled to be held in December following its success last year, said Quintella. Inaugurated in 2023, this year’s edition will consist exclusively of films by female directors, he added.
Elaborating on Brazil’s upcoming BRICS presidency next year, Quintella emphasised that the country will focus on advancing ongoing discussions about the need for reforming global governance institutions, particularly in relation to the international financial and monetary systems.
He said topics such as sustainable finance, tax cooperation, and local currency payment arrangements will be discussed.
In a nutshell, the Brazilian presidency of BRICS will build upon the work done this year during its chairmanship of the G20 on issues such as the fight against hunger, poverty and inequality, the promotion of sustainable development and the reform of global governance, Quintella added.
Laos officially handed over the ASEAN chairmanship to Malaysia on Oct 11 during the closing ceremony of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in Vientiane.
