“The Brazilian Cultural Week was planned by my team at the embassy as a first priority of my tenure in 2022. The aim was to show in more depth in Albania the real Brazil, the one that is not yet perceived in Europe. It has profound common traits and links with the Mediterranean people from East to West due to our complex and diverse cultural and sociological formation. On the other hand, it was partly due to the message I received from the Albanian high authorities since the presentation of my credential letters and the many ministerial courtesy calls I made: "Show more Brazil!”  This is how the Ambassador of Brazil Joao Tabajara de Oliveira Junior started an exclusive interview with ADN after the Brazilian Cultural Week, which was held on 21 - 29 June, 2024 in different cities of Albania but the climax was undoubtedly the Carnaval in Vlora!  After a detailed presentation of the activities of the Cultural week ADN asked the ambassador about Brazilian foreign policy and the cooperation of Albania and Brazil in international organizations and some other topics. 
The Ambassador said that Brazil deeply believes in peace and will always be an advocate of its imperatives for world-wide prosperity, political stability, and collective security. In light of the unprecedented situation on the international scene—violent and divisive—nearing a world war or even the escalation of a nuclear conflict. "We think now it’s time for peace, collaboration, and cooperation instead of confrontation. Brazilian foreign policy is a mirror of what Brazil is in its essence." 
“Although far from Albania, Brazil, through its hundreds of internet bloggers, is making great publicity of the beauties and marvels of the Albanian Riviera. Keen of the nature of Brazilian people, who are always hunting for a new destination to travel to, we, at the Embassy, are noticing a great increase in the numbers of Brazilian tourists to Albania year by year,” the Ambassador of Brazil Joao Tabajara de Oliveira Junior said in the following interview:     

Albanian Daily News: Your Excellency, in the first place, congratulations for the Brazilian Cultural Week (21 - 29 June, 2024), which was so colorful and vivid but its climax was the famous Brazilian carnivals which went to the Lungomare of Vlora, southern Albania. Percussionists, ballerinas and Capoeira dancers brought the symbolism (trade mark) of the culture of the Brazilian people. The ' Big Bang’ happened – Brazilian Carnivals not only went and performed but they were joined by Albanian artists and spectators on June 29, the last day of the main event. Which were your impressions of how Albanians welcomed and enjoyed the entire event? 

Ambassador of Brazil Oliveira Júnior: Every cultural event we presented during the cultural week had the utmost warm response from the Albanian people! Although we were a little overrun by EuroCup, school holidays, and other seasonal happenings, our events were attended by a reasonable number of participants, all of whom were of very high quality. The climax was undoubtedly the Carnaval in Vlora! The feeling we all had at the embassy was that we were really in Rio due to the high spirit of the Albanian public! We always had the idea that Albanians and Brazilians have much in common, especially regarding the joy of life, music, dance, and rhythm!!!! Through the lines that follow, I will present a summary of the events that comprised the cultural week, as well as their impact on the Albanian public. 
It was amazing to find translators of Brazilian literature in a country that doesn't officially teach Portuguese, either in universities or in language courses! So it was fantastic to be able to launch during the cultural week two books translated into Albanian by two important Brazilian writers! On the opening event of the Brazilian week, "Literature with Music," the embassy was also able to show Brazilian music, classic and popular, through the magic piano of Ricardo Mordenti, a Brazilian musician of great competence and excellence in Vienna! It was a very successful program, and by the manner it was warmly received by the Albanian public. 
The Embassy presented, on the second night of the cultural week, a concert of the "Camerata Balcanica,"  directed by the competent Sebian musician Ms. Jovanka Visekruna Jankovic, which performed a program of great Brazilian classical composers like Antonio Carlos Gomes, whose bust is in the Alla Scalla of Milan museum, and of Heitor Villa-Lobos. The public was surprised and marveled at by the beauty and quality of the works of these brilliant composers. 
The three movies shown throughout that week were very carefully chosen. Each one was set in a different part of Brazil, (North East, South East, and Mid-West), so that the Albanian public could see how diverse the country is geographically and culturally. 
The first one, "Broken April," by Walter Salles, was a very successful film internationally, nominated for the best foreign film at the 2002 Oscars and for the Golden Globe in the same category. The film is based on Ismail Kadaré's book, ‘Prilli i Thyer’. According to the Albanian author, in an interview with the director Walter Salles, it was the best adaptation of his novel. In the film, it is clearly perceptible the similarities between two regions of our countries, as per the social structure and even the landscape. 
The second one, Bossa Nova, is directed by Bruno Barreto, another acclaimed movie director in Brazil. It has a lighter and more spirited subject, and the aim was to show how Brazilians live their day-to-day lives and how they interact with foreigners in the great urban centers of the country. It is also an ode to Rio de Janeiro and the musical genre Bossa Nova (the 1960’s movement that resulted from the fusion of samba with jazz). 
Last but not least, The Two Sons of Francisco was also a very successful film in Brazil and in international film festivals around the world. It is set in yet another different part of the country on the rural side of central Brazil. A true story of a very poor father who fought against all possible odds to successfully make two of his sons great music pop superstars! 
After the exhibitions, many spectators from the audience approached me and told me that Brazil must also have other excellent and interesting films to show, which made me wonder and decide that, from now on, I will institute a regular Brazilian Movie Night. 
Carnaval in Vlora was surely the great finale of the Brazilian week. The video produced by the Ministry of Economy, Culture, and Innovation shows exactly how the public reacted to the Brazilian music and dance with awe, surprise, and pleasure to the first ever outdoor event of this magnitude in Vlora. The images were shown on 11 news sites and seven television networks, including Euronews. Judging by its great success and general appreciation, I wonder if we could institute it as a tradition for the opening of the summer in a city of unparalleled beauty and warmth, as well as one of the main cities of the Albanian Riviera in the South. A cultural event as successful as that one could surely become one more important attraction factor for tourists all over the world to come to Vlora. 

-Albania and Brazil are far geographically and of course different in size and population. The Week was another demonstration that Albanians are familiar with your country, people and especially culture and sports. How much is Albania and its people known in Brazil and what can be done to bring the two people closer? 

- Although far from Albania, Brazil, through its hundreds of internet bloggers, is making great publicity of the beauties and marvels of the Albanian Riviera. Keen of the nature of Brazilian people, who are always hunting for a new destination to travel to, we, at the Embassy, are noticing a great increase in the numbers of Brazilian tourists to Albania year by year. The Albanian Embassy in Brasilia and its trade chambers spread in many parts of Brazil through its innovative and efficient tourism programs could be excellent centers of tourist information not only for the Brazilian public but also for all South American countries. 

- I could not lose this opportunity of the interview Mr. Ambassador to kindly learn from you how have the bilateral relations developed since the opening of the Brazilian Embassy in Tirana, and particularly after 2000? 

- Through the opening of an honorary consulate in Vlora, Brazil is signaling its firm resolution to be present in Albania and the will to develop closer bilateral ties and expand them to many other relevant sectors of our societies, like technical cooperation, trade, investments, culture, sports, tourism, and university joint research in biotechnology and agriculture, for instance. This is where I have been concentrating our efforts since day one in Tirana. We are about to conclude a memorandum of understanding on security between our national police forces and another one on technical cooperation that will pave the way for a great and wide avenue of bilateral opportunities. 
Albania, being a natural geopolitical and economic strategic spot in Europe and in the Mediterranean since antiquity, is allied to the great work the present government has been doing since the last decade on infrastructure and innovation to become a major European hub in many key sectors such as transportation, energy, communication, and the digital economy. In my humble thoughts, I believe that this country has been and will continue to be an important destination for heavy foreign investments in the near future. Adding to all this, in just a matter of a few years, it will join one of the greatest markets in the world, the European Single Market. In view of all this, the Embassy is sending to the Brazilian private sector the message that this is the right moment and time to invest in Albania. 
Brazil and Albania, since the establishment of embassies in our mutual capitals, have initially developed very close relations and political convergence on a multitude of international issues within the vast multilateral organizations and forums. Proof of that was the excellent way our delegations coordinated between themselves and with the UN Security Council in 2023. We also exchanged mutual support for a multitude of candidacies in international forums, such as the Council on Human Rights and many others. We are taking advantage of this already excellent state of relations in the political and diplomatic fields and expanding them to other areas that can bring important social and economic advances and benefits for both our societies.   

-Brazil is among the largest powers in the world. In its efforts for peace and stability, particularly at these turbulent times Brazil is keen on WB and please what is your opinion about the current situation in the region? As a follow up, what could you tell us about the cooperation of Albania and Brazil in diplomacy?

-Brazil deeply believes in peace and will always be an advocate of its imperatives for world-wide prosperity, political stability, and collective security. In light of the unprecedented situation on the international scene—violent and divisive—nearing a world war or even the escalation of a nuclear conflict, we think now it’s time for peace, collaboration, and cooperation instead of confrontation. Brazilian foreign policy is a mirror of what Brazil is in its essence. We are guided by solidarity and inclusiveness. In that sense, Brazil can have excellent relations at the same time with the developed world as with the developing countries. We don’t see the ultimate goal of the full development of Brazil separated or without the development of our southern partners, not even at the expense of the wealthier. This is the meaning of collaboration and inclusiveness in our diplomacy. No one is to be excluded. 

-In the meantime could you tell us in a nutshell about the foreign policy of Brazil in its region and the world, the relationship with neighbors and the US, which incidentally is in the midst of the electoral campaign, the race for the White House? 
-To understand the evolution of our foreign policy, we must have the following in mind: Brazil as a country of continental dimensions, may, on the one hand, trigger fear of imperialistic behavior or mistrust among medium-, small-, and neighboring countries. On the other hand, being so big may arouse suspicions of rivalry and competition among major powers. In order to avoid the inducement of such false and unwanted perceptions of Brazil, our foreign policy was very balanced and delicately designed. At the same time, the Baron of Rio Branco, father of Brazilian diplomacy, stated initially that due to its geopolitical situation (the extreme west), “Brazil can’t afford not having excellent relations with its neighbors” and must be present and proactive in the world and develop very good relations with each and every country in the international scene, regardless of their ideology, religion, political system, and whether they are rich or poor. That’s how the “universalist dimension” of our foreign policy has been established since the beginning of the Republic, evolving in modern times to include solidarity and inclusiveness. This is the idea that put BRICS together. 
Since the monarchic period of our history in the 19th century, Brazil has been present in every important or relevant international initiatives. Just to mention a few, in 1875, Brazil was one of the 17 countries that negotiated and signed the International Metre Convention in Paris, establishing the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Later, under the Republic, Brazil was one of the founding members of the League of Nations, an international organization created in 1919 at the end of the First World War. In 1945, Brazil was one of the 50 countries that participated in the United Nations Conference on International Organizations, held in San Francisco.  In 1947, Brazil was among the 23 countries that negotiated and signed the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT). 
To have peace and cooperation in South America, our number one priority of foreign policy, together with Argentina, we relinquished in the 1980’s to the projects of the development of the atomic bomb and thus ended the existing rivalry between our countries. Mercosul derives from cooperation and the deep integration measures adopted between Brazil and Argentina’s economies. With the recent accession of Bolivia, Mercosul now has six full members. Nowadays, through a Brazilian initiative under the UN, South American and Western African countries have created the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, free of nuclear weapons. Brazil, regionally, promotes and advocates the integration of all the Americas, a process long overdue; even Africa is more advanced than the Americas in terms of integration processes. The US was the first country to recognize the independence of Brazil in 1824, and since then we have developed excellent relations at all levels. As with Argentina and Mercosul, our private sectors are intimately interdependent, especially in the industrial sector. Brazilian diplomacy operates by building bridges of understanding and consensus between countries in order to achieve peaceful resolutions for disputes or differences. That has always been the Brazilian modus operandi every time we were in the UNSC as a non-permanent member.