When it comes to squaring up to the developed world on issues of trade policies, South Africa likes to hang tough with its new anti-protectionist pals Brazil and India.
But when one or both of these partners in the South strategic alliance talks about becoming a permanent member of a reformed United Nations Security Council, South Africa plays as coy as a schoolgirl.
Brazil’s charismatic President Lula da Silva will get the star treatment when he visits President Thabo Mbeki on Saturday.
When he came to power eight months ago, Lula promised to make radical reforms to Brazil’s foreign policy with Africa. This week he is on a five-nation safari to give substance to that promise.
Mbeki intends to make the most of it. Brazil is the best starting point for plans to get Africans in the diaspora to make a contribution to the continent’s development.
Brazil has more inhabitants of African origin than any country in the world, bar Nigeria.
South Africa has put considerable effort into building a strategic partnership with the world’s 12th-largest economy and seventh-largest manufacturer.
The partnership has a joint commission that meets annually at ministerial level. The historic India-Brazil-South Africa agreement signed earlier this year is a product of this.
The countries stood together at the failed World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Cancun earlier this year. Lula and Mbeki will discuss joint strategies for the next round in December.
Brazil and South Africa share strongly voiced support for multilateralism as the key to solving global problems. They recognise that for this to succeed, the UN needs to reform.
But here is where their positions diverge. Both India and Brazil have thrown their hats into the ring. They have made it clear that when the UN Security Council is eventually reformed, they expect to be permanent members of that new powerhouse.
No amount of urging by either of them has persuaded South Africa to take a similar position.
As things stand, Nigeria and Egypt have declared their candidacy for the African seat.
South Africa continues to cling to the wide-eyed notion that the African candidate will have to be decided by the African Union.
In short, South Africa wants to receive the accolade by acclaim, without the risk of losing friends by campaigning.
Meanwhile, the South African position remains that Africa should get two permanent seats — a position twice as impractical as the continent getting one.
For the time being the official South African position goes, declaring one’s candidacy is somewhat premature. The five permanent members of the Security Council are unlikely to agree to any reform that would dilute their power.
In any event, first claim to permanent status comes from Germany and Japan, which are the second- and third-largest contributors to the UN budget.
South Africa has been named to the Eminent Persons Committee charged by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with reporting to the General Assembly by next September on ways the world organisation can most constructively be reformed.
Lula has been picking up endorsements from leaders in São Tomé, Angola, Mozambique and Namibia on his African safari. South Africa is unlikely to become the fifth trophy from this expedition.
There are no outstanding issues between South Africa and Brazil — no sharp edges to the relationship. South Africa is intent on paring down the $295,8-million-a-year trade deficit in Brazil’s favour, and plans to do this without hurting the trade links, currently worth $695,6-million a year.
Lula will be accompanied in South Africa by a 100-strong trade delegation.
Briefing reporters this week, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad remarked that 10 years after the African National Congress came to power and lifted trade sanctions, Brazilians had still not fully realised the potential South Africa has for trade and investment.
He blamed the business sector for not using the highway agreements built by officials.
While the business delegation is getting the hard sell, Lula will get the obligatory briefing on objectives of the African rescue plan, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and suggestions for constructive partnerships with the continent.
Unless his officials have been on Mars, there is not much Lula can be told. Mercosur, the four-nation Latin American regional economic grouping of which Brazil is a founder member, is currently engaged in negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Southern African Customs Union.
Nothing keeps the official briefs more pointed and topical than a spirited round of market-access negotiations.