TEHRAN – The governments of Iran and Brazil are taking steps to boost bilateral trade and enhance cultural connections between the two countries, Brazilian envoy to Tehran Eduardo Ricardo Gradilone Neto announced during an exclusive interview with the Tehran Times. 

During a visit to the Tehran Times building on Wednesday, Gradilone Neto met with the publication's CEO and editor-in-chief, engaging in discussions about bilateral relations. The Ambassador also participated in an interview with the newspaper's correspondent, offering insights into the state of Iran-Brazil relations.

The full text of the interview is as follows: 

The current trade volume between Iran and Brazil stands at approximately $5 billion. What potential do you see for increasing this figure, and what opportunities and challenges might arise in this endeavor?

With Lula as President of Brazil, the good relations with Iran are back as they were during his two previous terms. And now Iran is a member of BRICS. And our Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin attended the inauguration of President Pezershkian, a medical doctor like him. Very good talks took place between them. During his visit, he held several meetings to discuss the resumption of our high-level bilateral visits and the next reunion of our Economic and Trade bilateral commission. And in a short time, we will have an agriculture attaché working with us at the Brazilian embassy, who – among other things – and with Iranian counterparts will help solve sanitary issues that hinder unnecessarily an important part of our bilateral trade. Then trade will certainly increase even more. The challenges, in addition to what was just mentioned, relate to the situation in the Middle East, the problems between Iran and Israel, and other factors that create incertitude and difficulties in scheduling dates for our bilateral meetings.

Iran and Brazil are both members of BRICS. What are the common goals of the two nations within this organization?

There are many. The opening of more channels of communication among different countries with different governments, the discussion of subjects related to their regions or of international concern, the harmonization and defense of common positions in other fora, etc. Recently I participated, with other BRICS ambassadors posted in Teheran, in a student’s simulation of a meeting of the group. During an entire day, with the help of our staff, they discussed many issues of the BRICS agenda and presented their conclusions to the ambassadors at the end of the event. I think this was one of the pioneering initiatives of that nature, similar to United Nations simulation models with which we are already familiar.

You recently mentioned the development of a common BRICS currency. Can you provide an update on its progress, and what significance do you believe its establishment would hold for member countries?

Our former President Dilma Rousseff presides over the BRICS bank where this issue is being discussed. It has to be examined through different points of view and evaluation of consequences depending on the approach. We will have more information about that when Russia presents its report of its rotating presidency after the meeting of BRICS presidents at the end of the year.

Mr. Geraldo Alckmin, the Vice President of Brazil, recently met with Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in Tehran. How do you assess the future state of relations between Iran and Brazil during Dr. Pezeshkian's administration?

Geraldo Alckmin was the highest Brazilian authority to visit Iran since Lula was here in 2010. The new Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was then there in the meeting between Alkmin and Perzeshkian, together with his predecessor, Bagheri Kani, whom I knew during the Brazil-Iran political consultations meetings that took place in Brazil last year when he was a Secretary for Political Issues at the Iranian Foreign Office. Araghchi was for years Iran´s negotiator of nuclear issues, something Brazil, Turkey, and Iran were involved in very serious negotiations years ago, with successful results, which were unfortunately boycotted by great powers. At the beginning of September, we will celebrate our National Day and hope to have the attendance of authorities of both the former and current members of the government, to continue and strengthen even more our already very good relations. 

The relationship between Iran and Brazil spans over 120 years. In your view, how do current relations reflect this historical context, and what specific actions could be taken to further deepen and expand these ties?

The restart of our high-level visits will be very important for that, because we plan to review all aspects of our relations in the existing and the new groups to be created to deal with specific issues, including parliamentary diplomacy – something we want to resume as soon as possible and a subject that I am already discussing with members of the Iranian parliament -, cooperation among law studios in our countries, cultural exchanges, media collaboration and so on. We need to know better each other because this is very important to open new and mutually beneficial links and opportunities to the strengthening of our relations.

Your background indicates a strong emphasis on cultural issues and relations. Given the crucial role that media plays in fostering mutual understanding, why do you think media cooperation between Iran and Brazil is currently lacking? What initiatives do you envision to strengthen this aspect of bilateral relations?

I can mention our project with the embassy of Portugal and Tabataba´í University to create a Portuguese language course in Iran and the incentive to Iranians to have more information about Brazil and our culture, and vice-versa. On our National Day celebration, the National anthems will be performed by Iranian children, we will probably have Capoeira – Brazilian martial art - performed by Iranians, Brazilian food and drinks prepared by local people, and many other kinds of cultural initiatives related to photography and Iranian tile exhibitions, book translations, etc. Contacts and cooperation between the press of our countries would be another interesting project to develop.

What is the position of Brazil regarding the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip? Has Brazil taken any diplomatic moves in this regard?

Relations unfortunately are not good with the current Israeli administration, although the respective peoples have a strong friendship and we have solid and historical links. Our ambassador in Tel Aviv was called to Brasília for consultations; we are almost every day condemning Israel for its atrocities in Gaza; we voice our indignation regarding the acts of the current Israeli government in every multilateral forum, including the International Court of Justice. Let me finish by expressing my opinion that religion has to be a factor of union, not disunion and dissent, among countries. In particular among monotheist countries where the majority of the population follows Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.

By Mona Hojat Ansari