The Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil

The Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) was established in 1987 to plan, coordinate, negotiate, approve, implement, monitor, and evaluate, at the national level, programs, projects, and activities of humanitarian and technical cooperation for development in all areas of knowledge, both from Brazil to other countries and from other countries to Brazil, under bilateral, trilateral, or multilateral arrangements. 

In cooperation from abroad to Brazil, ABC operates in two segments: multilateral and bilateral. Incoming cooperation aims to accelerate Brazil’s social and economic development process by strengthening national institutions at all three levels of the federation through the transfer of technology and knowledge. 

Over the years, Brazil, once limited to receiving technical assistance from developed countries and international organizations, has become a provider of cooperation abroad. To implement its activities, ABC relies on approximately 120 national partners, both public and private; strategic alliances with developed countries (Germany, Canada, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, among others); as well as partnerships with 45 international organizations, regional and interregional blocs, and more than one hundred developing countries with which Brazil maintains a Basic Agreement on Technical Cooperation. 

Cooperation provided abroad is developed exclusively in response to officially submitted requests, either through Brazilian diplomatic missions or foreign representations in Brasília. Brazil does not offer cooperation on a voluntary basis. Once a request is received, ABC consults Brazilian public and private institutions with expertise in the relevant field to verify their availability and interest in sharing technical knowledge. The next stages involve project design, including technical assessment and joint formulation with the partner country and participating Brazilian institutions. The project is also subject to legal review by the MRE and partner institutions, and includes defined timelines, objectives, costs, stages, and deliverables for each phase. Throughout implementation, initiatives undergo monitoring and evaluation processes. 

The decision to accept a request depends on its alignment with the guidelines of Brazilian foreign policy. It should be recalled that Article 4, item IX, of the Federal Constitution states that “the Federative Republic of Brazil shall be governed in its international relations,” among other principles, by “cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity.” 

ABC has implemented more than 7,000 projects in 108 countries across Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania, with the participation of more than 124 Brazilian institutions recognized for their excellence. Brazil’s main cooperation projects are carried out in areas such as public administration, family farming, urban issues, science and technology, culture, defense, social development, education and school feeding, industry and trade, justice, environment, energy, livestock, fisheries, planning, health, public security, labor, and employment. 

Sri Lanka and Brazil has signed the Basic Agreement on Technical Cooperation on 16th September 2008. According to the Article II, subsection I of the agreement Sri Lanka and Brazil should sign complementary agreements to implement the programmes and projects of technical cooperation. 

The two proposals made by the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka in the year 2020 on collaborative research development and technology transfer related to Sugarcane Industry and improving the Dairy Sector of Sri Lanka.

After several discussions on the concept by both parties, a technical team from ABC visited Sri Lanka from 9th to 21st June 2023 to study on the areas to provide the technical assistance for the development of dairy farming and sugarcane industries in Sri Lanka led by Mr. Nelci Peres, General Coordination for Technical Cooperation for Asia, South Africa, Middle East and Oceania of ABC.

The Sugarcane project will bring the knowledge gap faced by stakeholders in the sugar sector by capacity development, vocational training, adequate extension services and increase sugarcane yield and sugar production in Sri Lanka which ultimately contribute to increasing Sri Lanka´s GDP. 

The Dairy farming project will increase the milk production in Sri Lanka which contributes to food security. 

Currently, the texts of the Agreement on Technical Cooperation in Dairy Livestock and the Agreement on Technical Cooperation in Sugarcane between Sri Lanka and Brazil are in the process of finalizing. 

For more information about ABC, please visit https://www.gov.br/abc/en