The President of the Federative Republic of Brazil on June 1 by decree conferred upon Milinda Moragoda the honour of Officer of the Order of Rio Branco, which is one of the highest national honours of the Republic of Brazil. Mr. Moragoda is Chairman of Mercantile Merchant Bank Ltd, and Honorary Consul for Brazil in Sri Lanka. The Ambassador of Brazil accredited to Sri Lanka, based in New Delhi Luiz Filipe de Macedo Soares, formally bestowed this honour on behalf of the President of Brazil on Mr. Moragoda at a ceremony held in Colombo on June 29.

The Order of Rio Branco is named after a national hero of Brazil, that country’s most distinguished and respected diplomat, the Baron of Rio Branco who was the Foreign Minister of Brazil at the beginning of this century. He was responsible for peacefully resolving all Brazil’s border disputes. Brazil which is the fifth largest country in the world, occupies nearly half of South America and has a land mass of over 8 ½ million square kilometres. It shares borders with 10 countries.

Furthermore, Baron of Rio Branco’s tenure saw the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Brazil and the United States. His many diplomatic initiatives built the foundations for the position of leadership Brazil occupies within the international community today. He was also responsible for establishing the basis for modern Brazilian diplomacy and foreign policy, a fundamental premise of which is that the subject of foreign affairs should be above parochial politics and factional interests.

Brazil with a population of 160 million people, the 8 th most populous country in the world, has a GDP of US$ 800 billion, making it the seventh largest economy. Recently Brazil along with the United States was made the co-Chairman of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations, an initiative which has as its objective the creation of a free-trade block within North and South America by the year 2005. Over the last four years under the reform minded leadership of President Cardoso, the Brazilian economy has been completely liberalized and the country has become a strong and important player in the sphere of international trade and investment.

This same period also saw national inflation come down from 40% per month to 3 ½ per year! Through prudent economic management Brazil has in many ways successfully minimized the negative fall-out from the East Asian crisis on its own economy. Today, there is a consensus among international observers that Brazil, together with China and India, will emerge to become the economic and industrial power houses of the next millennium.