US embassy cable - 05BRASILIA3125

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRASILIA 003125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2015 
TAGS: KNNP, PARM, PREL, IN, BR, Bilateral Relations with the US 
SUBJECT: BRAZIL DEMARCHE ON U/S BURNS & U/S JOSEPH SFRC 
TESTIMONY REGARDING INDIA CIVIL NUCLEAR INITIATIVE 
 
REF: STATE 203310 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Dennis Hearne, 1.4 (B) & (D) 
 
1.  (C) Embassy presented the text of the testimonies of U/S 
Burns and Joseph November 28 to Santiago Mourao, Director of 
the Foreign Ministry's Disarmament and Sensitive Technologies 
Division.  Mourao said he had seen references to the 
testimony of the two Undersecretaries and looked forward to 
fully reviewing the texts.  He reviewed the Brazilian 
position on the issue, noting that Brazil received the 
information on the civil nuclear cooperation with some 
perplexity.  While the GOB understood the U.S. desire to 
build a strategic partnership with India, Brazil had actually 
been pursuing such a partnership with India (and South 
Africa) without making any concessions on the disarmament 
front.  Brazil, he said, does not recognize a separation of 
disarmament from non-proliferation and therefore does not 
understand how one can make concessions on disarmament in 
order to gain progress on non-proliferation. 
 
2.  (C) Mourao added that there was an internal Brazilian 
dimension to the issue:  Brazil's decision to accede to the 
NPT had been a difficult one.  That difficulty is being 
relived as the GOB considers the issue of the Additional 
Protocol.  From the perspective of this issue, the U.S.-India 
announcement has not helped matters. 
 
3.  (C) Finally, he said, because of Brazil's strategic 
relationship with India, this initiative has put Brazil in an 
awkward position.  In order not to strain relations with 
India, Brazil has refrained from saying much publicly on the 
issue. 
 
4.  (C) Noting that Brazil will assume the Chair of the 
Nuclear Supplier's Group (NSG) next year, Mourao said Brazil 
had been pleased to note that the U.S. was not asking the NSG 
to take any action in regard to the India initiative until 
India had taken the necessary actions to move forward civil 
nuclear cooperation with the U.S.  He said some of the 
necessary actions will not be easy for the Indians to take, 
so he will be interested to see how the situation develops. 
 
LINEHAN