Latin American Experience Beneficial to Russia
Latin America’s potential has long been underestimated. Meanwhile its potential does not boil down to its enormous natural resources only. Latin American markets’ solvency has grown considerably in the past decade. In addition, groundbreaking political shifts have been under way in the region.
All these factors prompted Moscow’s “second opening” of Latin America. Given the new state of affairs, the palpable convergence of our models and strategies of social and economic development appears quite natural. So does the present political and diplomatic boom in our relations. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s tour of the region, which is going to be a breakthrough, will be followed by Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s visit to Moscow late this year. The abundance and intensity of high-level contacts points to the fact that Russian foreign policy agenda in Latin America becomes extremely rich.
Let us consider this agenda in more detail. Certainly, it is not limited to bilateral negotiations and development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, where Brazil is Moscow’s leading partner. Russia’s commodity turnover with that country accounts for half the trade volume with the region in general; the latter, according to our prognosis, may total $16-17 billion this year. It need be reminded that in the mid-1990s Russia’s trade volumes with Latin America amounted to $3 billion.
The new level of Russia’s relations with the region is explained with Latin American states’ invigorating their international activity. Today these states do not want to put up with the role of detached onlookers when addressing global problems, be it international security or overcoming the consequences of the world financial crisis. Moscow and Latin America’s interests and positions coincide in seeking a new financial system and a real multipolar world order, not a declarative one. Given the crisis of the unipolar world concept and the U.S. gradually losing its economic and political weight, the experience of Latin America, which has long remained Washington’s backyard, is of special value to Moscow. After all, Latin American countries suffered from the irregularities of the previous world order like no one else. And they should know the U.S. strong and weak points far better than Russia.
Provided tough competition with other world powers, Russia’s “second opening” of Latin America is not going to be a cheap victory. To strengthen its positions in the region, Moscow will need to undertake extra efforts to upgrade its economy and promote its interests in cooperation areas with Latin America. It is another reason for doubling efforts to address Russia’s home problems.
Vladimir Davydov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Latin American Studies
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 21, 2008
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