The United States and Brazil have renewed cyber cooperation, two years after the Edward Snowden spying revelations chilled relations between the two countries.
In a visit to the United States this week Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff explained that while she did cancel a previous trip to the United States after the Snowden incident, “Since then, some things have changed and the change is particularly due to the fact that President Obama and the U.S. government have stated on several occasions that they would no longer engage in intrusive acts of spying [on] friendly countries. I believe President Obama.”
Rousseff affirmed at a joint press conference with President Obama on Tuesday she is satisfied with the administration’s response to the spying complaints. “And furthermore, he has told me that if he needed–should he ever need non-public information about Brazil, he would just pick up the phone and call me. So yes, I am certain that the conditions today have become very different.”
Rousseff’s visit to Washington, D.C., resulted in a joint communique from both presidents that noted future cyber cooperation.
“Bilateral cooperation on cyber issues will be resumed by the convening of the Second Meeting of the Working Group on Internet and Information and Communications Technology in Brasilia in the second semester [Fall 2015],” the communique said.
The working group meeting will explore possibilities for cooperation in e-government, the digital economy, cybersecurity, cybercrime prevention, capacity building activities, international security in cyberspace, research, development, and innovation, the communique said.
A fact sheet released concurrently about the U.S.-Brazil relationship noted both countries “are partners in strengthening the ‘multistakeholder’ approach to Internet governance to preserve the benefits of a single, reliable, open, interoperable, and secure Internet.” This is in comparison to the inter-governmental approach favored by several BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, an association of five emerging national economies that meet annually) countries, especially China (Defense Daily, May 13).
The fact sheet also noted the United States looks forward to Brazil hosting the Internet Governance Forum in November 2015.
Obama and Rousseff also highlighted recent laws passed by the Brazilian Congress on defense cooperation with the United States: the Defense Cooperation Agreement, which will allow cooperation between the Brazilian Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Defense Department; and the GSOMIA, a military information agreement that will allow the exchange of information between both militaries.