Brazil’s experience in Africa “has shown us” a very important lesson: although Africa is one continent, it is not a single, uniform reality, Jorge Viana, the President of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), told The New Times in Kigali on Tuesday, February 3. ALSO READ: Rwanda, Brazil sign agreements on trade, investment Each country has its own economic structure, development stage, regulatory environment, and business culture, he observed, adding: “Treating Africa as a homogeneous market would limit the effectiveness of any engagement strategy.” ALSO READ: Brazil and Rwanda: Deepening partnerships, expanding horizons What Brazil is doing now, under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s third term, he explained, is once again making Africa a priority. ApexBrasil, he added, has been conducting several missions to Africa, and “this is our fourth.” In their latest mission on the continent, ApexBrasil, together with Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is promoting a new mission to Africa, with agendas in Rwanda, Benin, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Viana arrived in Kigali on Tuesday afternoon accompanied by “a diverse business delegation” of 34 Brazilian companies, reflecting the strategic priorities of ApexBrasil and the Brazilian government. He said: “Based on this understanding, we adopted a regionalized approach to optimize its actions on the continent. We divided Africa into four major regions — Southern Africa, Northern Africa, West Africa, and East Africa — so that the specific characteristics, opportunities, and challenges of each region and each country can be addressed with greater attention and precision. “This allows our team and our partners to work in a more targeted, efficient, and results-oriented manner.” ‘Rwanda stands out’ Within this strategy, he explained, Rwanda stands out as a country where Brazil has a clear interest in building solid and long-term partnership. Viana said: “Rwanda combines political stability, good governance, and a business-friendly environment, and plays an increasingly important role in East Africa. By focusing on Rwanda within our East Africa strategy, we aim to deepen bilateral relations and promote trade and investment. “This regional approach enables ApexBrasil to strengthen commercial ties and enhance bilateral relationships in a more structured and sustainable way — transforming strategic intent into concrete results for Brazil and its African business partners.” The Brazilian companies participating in the Kigali mission operate in agriculture, machinery and equipment, transportation and mobility solutions, animal protein, technology and innovation, cosmetics, education, aviation, food and beverages, metallurgy, and cooperatives, he explained. “This diversity reflects Brazil’s capacity to offer both scale and sophistication, combining competitive production, technology, and value-added solutions,” he said. “Throughout the mission, more than 170 business matchmaking meetings are being held between Brazilian and Rwandan companies. The partnerships being encouraged go well beyond simple export transactions and focus on long-term, mutually beneficial commerce, including joint ventures, local production, technology transfer, capacity-building, supply-chain integration, cooperation with small producers and service provision adapted to local needs.” Overall, the objective is to connect Brazilian expertise with Rwanda’s dynamic economy and business-friendly environment, creating partnerships that generate investment, jobs, innovation, and sustainable growth for both countries. ‘All of us who visit Rwanda leave transformed’ Earlier in the day, his delegation visited Kigali Genocide Memorial, a place of remembrance and learning dedicated to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. We asked Viana what that experience means to him personally, and how it shapes the spirit in which Brazil approaches partnership with Rwanda. He said: “Much of the world was deeply moved in 1994 by the genocide — one of the most perverse expressions of humanity, which took place here in Rwanda and in other parts of the world as well. “Today, however, Rwanda stands as perhaps one of the world’s most powerful examples of overcoming genocide. It is a country that moves us for a different reason: its extraordinary capacity for reconstruction, reconciliation, and resilience.” At the same time, he added, Rwanda keeps the memory of this human tragedy alive, precisely so that it never happens again. “I believe that all of us who visit Rwanda leave transformed — better than when we arrived — with a deeper understanding of how humanity can confront, learn from, and overcome the genocides it has experienced throughout history.” ‘Important opportunities in football sector’ And then, we talked some football, considering the fact that his country is a global soccer powerhouse. His country has faced challenges in recent years – the last time it won the World Cup was in 2002 – but its status is cemented by unmatched records, and a continuous, vast output of world-class talent, among other things soccer. Brazil – the only national team to have participated in every single World Cup tournament ever held – holds the record for the most FIFA World Cup titles, winning five times, in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002. Every year, football clubs in the country of over 112 million people generate hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars from selling players abroad. Brazil is indeed known worldwide as the country of football, Viana said, but it is important to remember that the Brazilian soul is deeply African. “A large part of our population descends from Africans, and Brazil owes a great deal to Africa — including much of the talent, creativity, and passion that define our way of playing football,” he said. “Just as Africa is home to some of the world’s greatest athletes, especially in athletics and marathon running, Brazil has produced outstanding football players and has successfully developed football into a global industry.” In this context, he explained, the “renewed rapprochement between Brazil and Africa promoted by President Lula also opens important opportunities in the football sector.” Viana said there is clear potential to build structured partnerships that identify young African talent and connect it with Brazil’s well-established football ecosystem — clubs, training centers, and professional development pathways. “This kind of cooperation can create value for both sides, combining African athletic excellence with Brazil’s experience in developing talent and turning sport into a sustainable business and a tool for social and economic inclusion.”
