Big questions facing the UK and Brazil: Conversa 2023

Big questions facing the UK and Brazil: Conversa 2023

Reading time: 4 mins approx.

On Friday 30 June the UK-Brazil Conversa, Canning House’s flagship annual forum for discussion of the most important issues facing the UK, Brazil and the two countries’ relationship, took place in Oxford at the world-class facilities of the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. In a full day of conversation and debate, held across three sessions and six panels, participants from the UK and Brazil shared bilateral perspectives on geopolitics, infrastructure, climate change, health, economics, education and more.

The eighth edition of the Conversa was opened by Jeremy Browne, CEO of Canning House; Professor David Doyle, Director of the University of Oxford’s Latin American Centre; and Professor Ngaire Woods, Dean of the Blavatnik School.

Sir Alok Sharma KCMG MP, Member of Parliament for Reading West and President of the COP26 climate change conference, then delivered a keynote speech addressing global approaches to climate change, and how the UK and Brazil can work together to build a more prosperous, greener future.

All attendees remained in the Tun Razak Lecture Theatre for our first panel, Brazil and the UK’s places in the shifting global order. Chaired by Jeremy Browne and featuring Professor Timothy Power (University of Oxford), Dr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos (King’s College London) and Fiona Clouder (ClouderVista, COP26), the panel’s discussion ranged from BRICS and the multipolar order, to decolonisation, gender and education, to the green global economy; all punctuated by thoughts on how the UK and Brazil can best collaborate going forward.

Our second session split into three concurrent panels. In Infrastructure: Building our way to prosperity, Ed Hudson (EY) led a conversation with Karen Dinucci (Mott MacDonald) and Steve Long (Crossrail International Ltd) on the role of infrastructure as an engine for economic development in Brazil and the UK. Discussion focused primarily on questions of transport infrastructure and urban mobility, as well as thoughts on securing financing, delivery of megaprojects, and the advent of new infrastructural technologies.

In Panel 3, Collaborative approaches to tackling climate change and achieving net zero, Professor Anthony Pereira (Florida International University) spoke with Professor Iain Hartley (University of Exeter), Beth Child (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), Dr Erika Berenguer and Aline Soterroni (both University of Oxford), focusing particularly on the critical importance of the Amazon rainforest to the global climate, and how the UK is contributing to address the challenges faced in its conservation through its commitments to action and sustainable growth.

The fourth panel, Future challenges facing health and social care, brought together Dr Thomas Hone (Imperial College London), Professor Sir Andrew Pollard (Oxford Vaccine Group) and Dr Elize Massard da Fonseca (Fundação Getulio Vargas) discussed the success of UK-Brazil work in the development of Covid-19 vaccinations, and the potential for further collaboration in that area; the importance of early-years medicine, and shared challenges including obesity and preparation for possible future pandemics.

After lunch, Session 3 offered two panels. In Panel 5, Economic outlook and opportunities for investment in Brazil and the UK: Rethinking our economic relationship, Michael Reid (London School of Economics, formerly The Economist), Spencer Mahoney (Department for Business and Trade) and Carla Ferreira (Brazilian Chamber of Commerce) discussed the benefits offered by the recently signed (though not yet ratified) Double Taxation Agreement, a vision for a UK-Mercosur trade agreement, and what the UK could do to take advantage of the great potential it possesses in Brazil’s ample investment opportunities.

The final panel, Transforming societies through education, social development and equal representation, was chaired by Laurence Whitehead (University of Oxford), with Chris Cuddihy (Pearson UK), Dr Arthur Galamba (King’s College London) and Dr Mariana Borges Martins da Silva (University of Oxford), and covered a broad range of topics including teacher training and conditions, STEM education, and comparing and contrasting dynamics of political and social representation and marginalisation in the UK and Brazil.

All participants reconvened for a Plenary Session, in which our Chairs and Rapporteurs summarised the key findings from the day’s six excellent panels. Alan Charlton CMG CVO, Founder of the Conversa, Deputy Chair of Canning House, and a former Ambassador to Brazil, closed the Conversa with thanks to all participants and attendees. All in attendance then gathered upstairs to raise a glass to UK-Brazilian relations.

Canning House thanks all participants and attendees at the UK-Brazil Conversa 2023, and the Blavatnik School of Government for providing an ideal space for the day’s conversations.