Ambassador Raul de Taunay

It is with deepest pleasure that I welcome you to the website of the Brazilian Embassy in Harare. Be sure that your electronic visit to our home page represents one of the many outstanding moments of association between Brazilians and Zimbabweans.
 
Brazilians are used to receiving Zimbabweans with feast in their hearts, because we feel close to you and more than this, we feel friends.
 
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accorded me the honour to represent Brazil in the Republic of Zimbabwe and this important task culminates my career with the pleasure of being among brothers. I can say that with sincerity, evoking our mutual colonial past and the lineage of African ancestors that contribute to the generation of what Brazil is today.
 
And today Brazil is a country that is changing for the better. Approximately 200 million Brazilians are overcoming important challenges and facing major transformations in almost all fields of human activity - among them information tecnologies, bank automation, aircraft and satellite manufacturing, offshore oil drilling, underground networks and bio-fuels -  helping the nation to integrate its cities and the cosmopolitan space of Mercosul. 

In the field of researching, producing and consuming fossil and bio-fuels, it is important to remember that Brazil is today self-sufficient. With our Alcohol Programs, we have created more than 6 million direct and indirect jobs, including jobs for small farmers in economically depressed areas. All petrol consumed in Brazil today contains 25 percent of ethanol. More than 85 percent of the millions of cars currently being manufactured in Brazil are Flex-Fuel, meaning they can run on either petrol or ethanol and any mix of the two.
 
Our bio -fuels programs have been accompanied by government actions in defense of biodiversity. Along with the use of land for sustainable harvesting, measures have allowed the rate of deforestation and therefore emissions of greenhouse gases- to fall by more than 50 percent in the last three years.
 
Furthermore,  Brazil is a country with a peace-loving trajectory. Our battles were always fought in the diplomatic field, observing the rule of law, the state of right and respecting the soverigninty of our neighbours. Foreign policy has been a component of Brazil’s national development plans. It has contributed to reducing inequities, both nationally and internationally. Regional integration, adoption of fairer economic and trade rules and democratization of decision-making bodies are elements that we believe are essential to achieving a lasting peace.
 
We  stand today as a fraternal people, seeking to be fair, to be worthy and to overcome our inequalities. A nation with the most vivid spirituality, melted in blood and spirit, that is here to cooperate, to assist if required to do so, and to achieve mutual goals.

Brazil looks forward to implementing new projects with Zimbabwe, to enlarge the spectrum of our cooperation, to examine new opportunities for our bilateral relations.
 
We are conscious that forming a strong basis support of our relations is a long term challenge. In the mastering of this tangible dialogue, we are proud of our mutual human identity, our mutual political loyalty, our mutual belief that we can and we will structure a new pattern of collaboration which will benefit the future generations of Zimbabweans and Brazilians.
 
Given what Brazil represents for the regional stability in South America, we feel encouraged to continue advocating for cooperation that will take us all to a state of well-being and of concordance. It will be these cooperation,  amidst a climate of harmony and trust, which will be the deciding factor for our common success.

Millions of afro-descendant Brazilian citizens  spread the feeling of Africa in all four corners of Brazil, as well as thousands of Brazilians living in the this blessed continent of Africa share their love for friendship, cooperation and culture.

And culture in Brazil has many Afro-Brazilian combinations, such as music and rhythm. These in Brazil have many names: Samba, Bossa Nova, Maxine, Xaxado, Baiao, Choro, Carimbo, Frevo, Forro, Marcha, Embolada and others, that make huge crowds explode with joy during the weeks of the carnival, integrating the schools of Sambas, the Trio Electricos, The Bumba-meu-bois, the Maracatus, the Cavalhadas, the Candomblé, the Capoeira and all sorts of feasts and tournaments, in a mixture of good vibrations that make our imagination fly.
 
Let us then fly with it and imagine the best for Zimbabwe and the best for Brazil. Both countries being fantastic territories of substance and of spirit will surprise us with the role that they have to play in this 21th Century that is only beginning.
 
Have a nice visit to our website and feel free to consult our staff at the Embassy for advice or contacts in matters concerning trade and business developments, scientific and technical collaboration, cultural and educational cooperation, tourism and consular services (visas). We will be always here,  working to build a fair and just international order and to materialize our expectations for a better existence to all of us.
 
May God bless Zimbabwe, may God bless Brazil, may God bless us all.
 
Thank you very much.
Raul de Taunay
Ambassador