Relationship dossier
Brazil
South Africa
Relationship assessment
Brazil and South Africa maintain a sustained partnership focused on South-South cooperation and strategic engagement.
Brazil toward South Africa
+40Brazil has pursued bilateral strategic cooperation with South Africa and participated with it in initiatives including IBSA and BRICS. Brazil and South Africa also concluded a defense cooperation agreement, providing a formal basis for collaboration.
South Africa toward Brazil
+40South Africa has pursued bilateral strategic cooperation with Brazil and participated with it in initiatives including IBSA and BRICS. South Africa and Brazil also concluded a defense cooperation agreement, providing a formal basis for collaboration.
Overall relationship
+40The bilateral relationship is characterized by recurring strategic coordination and formal cooperation, including defense ties and participation in South-South forums. This provides a durable cooperative structure without amounting to a close security alliance.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Brazil and South Africa have pursued sustained South-South cooperation through bilateral strategic engagement and shared initiatives including IBSA and BRICS. Their governments have also formalized cooperation in areas such as defense. These arrangements indicate substantive cooperation, though the relationship is not equivalent to a close security alliance.
Key developments
Brazil and South Africa signed a defense cooperation agreement.
Brazil and South Africa established a strategic partnership.
Brazil, South Africa and India launched the IBSA Dialogue Forum.
Major uncertainties
- The current scope and implementation of bilateral defense cooperation are unclear.
- The extent of recent bilateral strategic engagement is uncertain.