Foreign Minister Urmas Paet: Estonia considers closer relations with Brazil important

18.04.2012

At his meeting in Brazil with the Brazilian Foreign Minister, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet expressed satisfaction that Estonia and Brazil are actively communicating in several areas. “The opening of the Brazilian embassy in Tallinn has further developed closer contacts and Estonia is also making preparations for opening an embassy in Brazil in the next few years,“ said Paet.

According to Paet, Brazil is Estonia’s most important trading partner in Latin America and the total amount of exchange of goods exceeded 44 million euro in 2011. “Estonia is interested in signing a double taxation treaty with Brazil and developing even closer trade relations with Brazil,” noted Paet.

At the meeting, the foreign ministers also talked about visa free travel to Brazil for Estonian nationals. According to Foreign Minister Patriota, the Congress of Brazil will ratify in the near future the visa waiver agreement made between the European Union and Brazil, which will allow Estonian nationals to enter Brazil without a visa.

Paet and Patriota discussed the Open Governance Partnership established on Brazil’s initiative at the meeting. Paet expressed his satisfaction that currently a high-level meeting discussing the topic of open governance partnership is being held in Brazil. “ The inclusion of Estonia’s e-government experience in the implementation of the open society principles has also attracted wider international attention,” said Paet. “We consider the Open Governance Partnership a good initiative through which Estonia can introduce its experience in countries that are about to create their own e-government,” he added.

The foreign ministers also spoke at the meeting about information technology related cooperation and possibilities to jointly consult other countries in the field of IT.

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