Mauro VieiraA Diplomatic Archive

No. 05 — The Diplomat

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Two terms at the head of Itamaraty — the office, its limits, and the documented record.

First term
1 Jan 2015 – 12 May 2016 · President Dilma Rousseff
Second term
Since 1 Jan 2023 · President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Predecessors
Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado (2015); Carlos Alberto França (2023)
Successor (2016)
José Serra
Close portrait of Mauro Vieira in rimless glasses and a light suit, Brazilian and Indian flags behind him
Fig. 01Mauro Vieira in New Delhi, with the flags of Brazil and India behind him. Date not recorded in the source file.

The office of Foreign Minister

Brazil's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Itamaraty — and its network of embassies, consulates and missions. The minister is appointed by, and answers to, the President of the Republic.

It is important to be precise about what the office does and does not do. Under the 1988 Constitution, the President "maintains relations with foreign States", concludes treaties (subject to congressional approval) and appoints heads of mission (subject to Senate approval). The Foreign Minister advises the President, directs the ministry that formulates and executes policy, negotiates on Brazil's behalf and represents the country abroad. The minister does not, independently, determine Brazilian foreign policy.

Institutional structure

Who decides, who executes

A simplified view of the constitutional chain through which Brazilian foreign policy is made. Explanatory model

Tier 1

The President

Sets the direction of foreign policy, maintains relations with foreign states, concludes treaties, appoints ambassadors (Constitution, Art. 84).

Tier 2

The Foreign Minister

Advises the President; directs Itamaraty; negotiates and represents Brazil; answers to Congress when summoned.

Tier 3

Itamaraty

The career Foreign Service: Secretariat-General, thematic and regional secretariats, and 200+ posts abroad.

Checks

National Congress

Approves treaties (Art. 49) and — in the Senate — heads of mission (Art. 52); can summon the minister to testify.

Other actors also shape external policy — including, in President Lula's governments, the Special Adviser to the President for International Affairs, a post held by Celso Amorim since 2023.

Two terms

Two governments, two eras

2015–2016

Under President Dilma Rousseff

Announced on 31 December 2014 and in office from 1 January 2015, Vieira came to the ministry directly from the Embassy in Washington. The office was formally transferred to him at the Itamaraty Palace on 2 January 2015.

Documented developments of the term include President Rousseff's official working visit to Washington on 29–30 June 2015, which produced a joint communiqué and a joint statement on climate change; and his participation in UN General Assembly week in September 2015, including a meeting with General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft on 30 September on refugees, the Sustainable Development Goals, COP21 and Security Council reform.

The term ended with the suspension of President Rousseff by the Senate in May 2016. The decree removing him, dated 11 May 2016, was published in the Diário Oficial on 12 May 2016.

2023–

Under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Announced on 9 December 2022 while serving as Ambassador in Zagreb, he was sworn in on 1 January 2023 and received the office from Carlos Alberto França on 2 January. In his inaugural speech he said, in Portuguese, that "the main task of foreign policy" would be to "reinsert Brazil in its region and in the world".

The term has included Brazil's presidency of the UN Security Council (October 2023), of the G20 (December 2023 – November 2024) and of BRICS (2025), and the hosting of COP30 in Belém (November 2025). As of 11 September 2026 he remains in office.

O Brasil está de volta. Existe uma clara demanda do mundo pelo Brasil.

Inaugural speech, Itamaraty Palace, Brasília, 2 January 2023. Archive translation: “Brazil is back. There is a clear demand in the world for Brazil.”
Source: FUNAG — official text of the speech

Priorities of the second term

A documented agenda

The priorities below are drawn from the minister's own statements and from the official outcomes of the forums Brazil chaired. They describe Brazil's policy as executed by the minister; they are not presented as personal initiatives.

Mauro Vieira speaking at a microphone at a committee table; a nameplate reads Embaixador Mauro Vieira, Ministro de Estado das Relações Exteriores
Fig. 02Appearing before a committee of the Brazilian Congress; the nameplate identifies him as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Date not recorded.

  1. Reinsertion and universal relations

    The inaugural speech framed the task as returning Brazil to its region and to the world. In 2023 Brazil rejoined CELAC (January) and UNASUR (April). In an interview with Americas Quarterly in March 2023 he described a policy of no "automatic alignment to either side".

  2. Reform of global governance

    As chair of the G20 foreign ministers in 2024, he convened the first G20 meeting held at UN Headquarters, open to all UN members, which launched a "Call to Action on Global Governance Reform". His Rio press statement recorded agreement that the UN, WTO, World Bank and IMF "need to be reformed".

  3. Peace, humanitarian law and the Middle East

    He chaired Security Council meetings in October 2023, visited Ramallah in March 2024, and attended the Cairo conference on humanitarian aid to Gaza in December 2024. On Ukraine, he co-chaired with China's Foreign Minister the launch of the "Friends for Peace" group at the UN in September 2024.

  4. The Global South and BRICS

    He supported BRICS enlargement in 2023, chaired the first foreign ministers' meeting of the enlarged group in Rio de Janeiro in April 2025, and represented Brazil at the 2026 summit in New Delhi.

  5. Trade and economic diplomacy

    He represented Brazil at the signing of the EU–Mercosur agreement in Asunción on 17 January 2026, and led talks with the US Secretary of State on US tariffs imposed on Brazilian goods from August 2025.

Major developments

The ministerial record, 2023–2026

UN Security Council presidency, October 2023

Brazil held the rotating presidency in October 2023, during the first weeks of the Israel–Gaza war. On 18 October a Brazilian draft calling for humanitarian pauses won 12 votes but was vetoed by the United States; Ambassador Sérgio França Danese presided at that meeting. Vieira presided over Council meetings between 20 and 25 October, including the ministerial-level open debate on the Middle East on 24 October, and addressed the Council again on 30 October.

G20 presidency

He chaired the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Rio de Janeiro on 21–22 February 2024 and the second meeting at UN Headquarters on 25 September 2024. The Leaders' Summit in Rio on 18–19 November 2024 launched the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.

BRICS chairship

He opened and chaired the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Itamaraty Palace in Rio de Janeiro on 28–29 April 2025, ahead of the Rio summit of 6–7 July 2025.

The United States, 2025–2026

After the US imposed an additional 40 per cent tariff on many Brazilian goods from August 2025, Vieira spoke by telephone with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 9 October 2025, briefed the press after the Lula–Trump meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 26 October, and met Secretary Rubio in November 2025, when Brazil presented proposals. In July 2026 the US announced further tariffs under Section 301, which the Brazilian government rejected.

EU–Mercosur

Negotiations concluded in Montevideo on 6 December 2024; the agreement was signed in Asunción on 17 January 2026, where Vieira represented Brazil and described it as a "bulwark" against a world "battered by unpredictability, protectionism, and coercion".

Mauro Vieira seated at a desk in his office, gesturing with his right hand while speaking
Fig. 03Speaking in his office. Supplied image; date not recorded.
12 votesin favour of Brazil's October 2023 draft resolution on humanitarian pauses in Gaza — vetoed by the United States.
FirstG20 ministerial meeting ever held at UN Headquarters, chaired by Vieira on 25 September 2024.

Detailed chronologies: International Engagements and Speeches & Statements.

Sources & Further Reading35 references
  1. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988 — Art. 4ºPresidency of the Republic (Planalto)
  2. Brazil's Constitution of 1988 with Amendments through 2017 (English translation)Constitute Project
  3. Embaixador Mauro Luiz Iecker Vieira — academic biographyAcamerj
  4. Diário Oficial da União, Seção 2, nº 1-A, 2 January 2015Imprensa Nacional (MPF mirror)
  5. Discurso de posse — transfer of office ceremony, 2 January 2015FUNAG
  6. Joint Communiqué by President Barack Obama and President Dilma Rousseff (30 June 2015)The White House (archived)
  7. Meeting with Minister of External Relations of Brazil (30 September 2015)United Nations — President of the General Assembly
  8. Diário Oficial da União, Seção 2, nº 90, 12 May 2016Imprensa Nacional (MPF mirror)
  9. Dilma exonera ministros, com exceção de Tombini (12 May 2016)Exame
  10. Embaixador do Brasil na Croácia é nomeado ministro das Relações Exteriores (9 December 2022)Jovem Pan
  11. Ao assumir Itamaraty, Mauro Vieira diz que "Brasil está de volta" ao cenário internacionalCNN Brasil
  12. Mauro Vieira é empossado no Itamaraty (January 2023)Correio Braziliense
  13. Discurso do Embaixador Mauro Vieira por ocasião da posse no cargo de Ministro de Estado das Relações Exteriores (2 January 2023)FUNAG
  14. Q&A: Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on the "Lula Doctrine" (23 March 2023)Americas Quarterly
  15. Brazil once again part of CELAC: understand what the regional bloc is (January 2023)Agência Brasil
  16. Return of Brazil to UNASUR (April 2023)Itamaraty
  17. Press Statement by Minister Mauro Vieira at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (Rio de Janeiro, 22 February 2024)G20 Research Group, University of Toronto
  18. G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, United Nations Headquarters (September 2024)Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore
  19. G20 Leaders' Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 18–19 November 2024Council of the European Union
  20. World leaders launch the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty (18 November 2024)Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty
  21. Israel-Gaza crisis: US vetoes Security Council resolution (18 October 2023)UN News
  22. Security Council fails to adopt resolution calling for humanitarian pauses in Israel-Gaza crisis (SC/15450)United Nations
  23. The Middle East, including the Palestinian question: ministerial-level open debate (October 2023)Security Council Report
  24. Brazil criticizes UN Security Council impasse: "we failed" (31 October 2023)Agência Brasil
  25. At the West Bank, Brazilian foreign minister Mauro Vieira says the country will work to include Palestine as UN full member (18 March 2024)Brasil de Fato
  26. Address by Minister Mauro Vieira at the Cairo Ministerial Conference to Enhance the Humanitarian Response in Gaza (2 December 2024)Itamaraty
  27. Ministerial meeting of the "Friends for Peace" group on the Ukraine crisis (27 September 2024)Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China
  28. Brazil opens BRICS meeting with call to end wars, global tensions (29 April 2025)Brasil de Fato
  29. Trump signs executive order imposing tariffs on Brazil (30 July 2025)CNN
  30. Trump meets Brazil's Lula at ASEAN summit (26 October 2025)Al Jazeera
  31. Brazil awaits US reply on tariff plan after Vieira–Rubio talks (November 2025)The Tribune (India)
  32. Brazil condemns new US tariffs (16 July 2026)TIME
  33. EU, Mercosur bloc sign free trade deal after 25 years of negotiations (17 January 2026)Al Jazeera
  34. European Union and Mercosur bloc sign landmark free trade agreement (January 2026)PBS NewsHour
  35. Official Visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federative Republic of Brazil Mauro Vieira, 6 to 8 September 2026Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore