Republic of Djibouti

Brazil and Djibouti established diplomatic relations in October 1996. In June 2010, the Brazilian Embassy in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) became cumulatively responsible for representing Brazil before the Djiboutian authorities. The Embassy of Djibouti in Havana cumulatively represents the country in Brazil.

In May 2005, the President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh, visited Brazil to attend the South America-Arab Countries Summit, when he met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In May 2010, the Djiboutian ambassador in Havana, Ayeid Mousseid Yahya, presented his letters of credence as non-resident ambassador in Brasilia, on which occasion he expressed his country's desire to open a resident embassy in Brazil. In August 2011, Djibouti was included among the beneficiary countries of Law 12,429, which regulates the donation of public food stocks by the Brazilian government. In 2012, the two countries signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement, so far the only bilateral instrument between Brazil and Djibouti. The priorities noted by the Djiboutian authorities for cooperation focus on the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, environment, health, education, national solidarity, scientific research (in partnership with the Djiboutian Center for Studies and Research, CERD), and social development (in partnership with the Djiboutian Social Development Agency, ADDS).

There is investment potential between the two countries in the areas of transport, energy, and especially in the construction and modernization of ports in Djibouti. In the 1980s, a Brazilian company built the port of Doraleh, the first in Djibouti with a deep enough draught to receive any type of vessel, and a container terminal at the same port in the first decade of 2000. Bilateral trade is still incipient,  with refined sugar and chicken meat as the main products exported by Brazil. Live fish account for 99% of Brazilian imports from Djibouti.

Chronology of bilateral relations