Brazil has fulfilled its responsibilities in the construction of a fairer and more stable international order - even because justice and stability also happen to be requirements for its own economic and social progress.

The country avails itself of its diplomatic assets to effectively participate of the negotiation of norms governing international trade relations, whether at the World Trade Organisation or at any other multilateral forum. Brazil advocates more balanced conditions of access to world markets, a situation that would benefit the exports of less developed countries.

Brazil has also launched important international partnerships with less developed countries, particularly in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. There remains much to be done, beginning by the tightening of ties with the Portuguese speaking African countries. Important steps have been taken to that end, as it will be seen further along this document.

Richer countries must undertake the highest responsibilities in what concerns measures of support for less developed countries. Within this context, Brazil records with concern the unsatisfactory evolution of the levels of ODA provided by richer countries during the last years.

During the last five years, the Brazilian government has repeatedly warned world leaderships on the need for establishing mechanisms apt to mitigate the effects of shocks brought about by the volatility of financial capitals. The Asian crisis and the turbulence that irradiated from the difficulties faced by Russia have accelerated the political ripening of the issue, thus reinforcing the perception that more effective initiatives must be sought. This is and will keep on being a core concern of Brazilian foreign policy.

Brazil also labours aimed at eliminating the distortions of international trade, such as the maintenance of subsidies to agricultural exports and unjustified non-tariff barriers, that hamper the whole developing world.

The fact that globalisation has highlighted the inequalities within nations and, in many cases, among nations provides grounds for concern. A sound international environment requires the awareness of the fact that the world order must contribute to reduce inequalities, and not to enshrine or deepen them.

The asymmetrical character of the process of globalisation is undeniable. Brazilian foreign policy, precisely because it is the projection of the laws of a country where economic dynamism and poverty live side by side, has been and will always be committed to the defence, in each international negotiation, of the imperative of more social equity.

In 1996, the World Bank and the IMF created the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) Initiative, meant to promote a co-ordinated effort of the international community, including multilateral institutions, to reduce the debts, deemed unbearable, of the poorest and most indebted countries in the world. Forty-one countries were selected, most of them from Sub-Saharan Africa.