Skilled workers from South America urgently needed

“Brazilian nurses and Colombian electricians already find open arms in Germany – we want to expand this partnership,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made clear in Berlin before leaving for Brazil. The federal government wants to “turn immigration policy upside down, because our economy urgently needs more skilled workers”.

Brazil’s nursing staff well trained

In Brazil in particular, “the labor potential in the care sector is very large and the level of qualification is very high,” a spokeswoman for Hubertus Heil’s Ministry of Labor recently explained. “In this respect, this is a suitable place to talk very specifically about recruiting skilled workers there.” However, it is very important to Minister Heil to proceed sensitively and to take away workers that the country does not need itself.

In Berlin, the German Foreign Minister pointed out that Latin America and Europe are natural partners. “We live in democracies, are culturally close and stand up for an international system based on rules and human rights.”

Brazil is the only country in Latin America with which Germany has had a strategic partnership since 2008. The country with more than 200 million inhabitants is also Germany’s most important trading partner in South America. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier have already visited Brazil this year.

Russian war of aggression, climate and environment

For Baerbock, the relationship between the hosts and the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, as well as climate and environmental policy, should also be important topics in their talks in the capital Brasilia. Critics accuse President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has been in office since January, of being too close to Russia. Baerbock speaks of “different perspectives” between Germany and Brazil on the question of how to deal with the Kremlin. Lula supports peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. The West, however, does not yet see the conditions for this as fulfilled.

After the joint visit to Brazil, Baerbock wanted to fly on to Colombia and Panama on Wednesday evening. Heil then returns to Germany.

se/wa (dpa, afp, rtr)