TV Brazil International bridges gap with Africa


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Brazil Monday launched its international television network in the Mozambican capital of Maputo. TV Brazil International will be broadcast in Portuguese and beamed to 49 countries in Africa, and later to both Latin and North America. The launching of TV Brazil International in Africa shows Brazil’s growing interest in Africa.

“This is a dream come true,” said Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva Iniacio at the launching ceremony of TV Brazil International on Monday. The television channel will be based in Maputo, Mozambique.

TV Brazil International will re-broadcast the Brazilian national television, TV Brazil — a news network established in 2007 and broadcast in Brazil, — as well as cultural programmes, including Portuguese music in 49 African nations. The network is expected to expand its transmission around the world later, with particular emphasis on the Americas, that is; Latin America, Canada and the United States.

According to President Lula he is “not seeking a channel that speaks well of Lula”, but one that highlights Brazil as it is.” Besides Brazilian enthusiasts and Portuguese speaking African populations, TV Brazil International hopes to reach the 3 million Brazilian expatriates spread across the world.

Strengthening ties with Africa

The channel, which is expected to attract a wide following in Portugese speaking Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, also aims “to enhance communication between Brazil and Africa,” says Mozambican President, Armando Emilio Guebuza.

Brazil’s interest in Africa is not new. Numerous Brazilian companies, especially in the raw material sector, operate on the African continent. President Lula has also made numerous trips to Africa to promote economic and political ties.

“Since coming to power in 2003, Brazilian President Lula da Silva has made the African continent, especially South Africa, one of his economic priorities.

“Besides, he has created an India-Brazil-South Africa alliance (IBSA) to change geography, loosen unequal ties with the Triad (North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific) and establish balanced partnerships,” says Jean-Jacques Kourliandsky, a researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS).

Mr. Lula da Silva himself declared last year at the second Africa-South America summit on the Island of Margarita in northern Venezuela that bilateral commercial exchanges had increased from 6 billion dollars to over 36 billion dollars in only six years. An indication of the success of South-South cooperation to which he is strongly devoted.

TV Brazil International

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