Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federative Republic of Brazil to Ukraine Oswaldo Biato Júnior met with students of the Faculty of International Relations of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv during the working visit to Lviv on February 28, 2017.
The meeting was dedicated to the Ukrainian-Brazilian cooperation in different spheres, foreign relations between the countries and prospects for the future.
The Vice Rector for research, teaching work and international cooperation Maria Zubrytska made a welcoming speech. Maria Zubrytska pointed out that Oswaldo Biato Júnior first arrived in the city within his diplomatic service in Ukraine, which began in 2016. Hence, according to the Vice Rector, “students had a unique opportunity to speak on the current issues in conversation with the Guest of Honour”.
“Brazil is a far country, but at the same time it is very close to Ukraine through similar pages of our history. Now, based on meaningful historical experience of both countries we have a special opportunity to begin a new phase of successful cooperation”, said Maria Zubrytska.
The Vice Rector also noted that Ukraine and Brazil had already worked closely together at an academic level. An evidence of this cooperation is, in particular, the current agreement between the Lviv University and the Federal University of Technology of Parana (Brazil).
Opening the meeting with the students, the Ambassador focused on prospects of Western Ukraine, in particular, Lviv and Lviv Region. According to the diplomat, “this region is a great place to start any initiatives, and the city of Lviv has strong potential, particularly in education”.
For future plans of his diplomatic activity, Oswaldo Biato Júnior said that the Brazilian Embassy in Kyiv will work actively in cultural, political and economic spheres. In particular, the Embassy plans to organize the days of Brazil in Ukraine in autumn to facilitate better understanding of the place and role of the country in the world. Among the plans of the Ambassador is also to study the political situation in Ukraine in the context of strengthening relations between the two countries. In addition, Brazil is interested in taking over the experience of Ukrainian production of insulin – a hormone that affects many aspects of metabolism in almost all tissues of the human body, thereby reducing the concentration of glucose in the blood.
The Ambassador is convinced “that we have a lot of joint work ahead”.
During a meeting the students were able to ask the guest topical issues concerning, in particular, foreign policy and economic relations of Brazil with other countries.
The students were particularly interested in the opinion of the Ambassador regarding the economic blockade of the Donbas.
“Ukraine has the right to choose to tackle internal issues within the law. So Brazil declares its full support and respects any decision of Ukraine on this issue”, Oswaldo Biato Júnior acknowledged diplomatically.
The Ambassador expressed his conviction that Ukraine must first concentrate on domestic reforms, rejecting all secondary issues. This is the first and, according to the diplomat, an effective step to improve the situation in Ukraine at all levels.
Oswaldo Biato Júnior has been the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil to Ukraine and Moldova since 2016.
Since 1981 he has been working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil.
From 2008 to 2011 he worked in the Embassy of Brazil in Russia. In 2011- 2014, he was the Ambassador of Brazil to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
He also was a minister and Director of the European Department of the Foreign Ministry of Brazil, where he was responsible for the political relations between Brazil and 50 European countries, the European Union and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), in which he is the General Coordinator.