The article deals with the study of the interaction between eight South American countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, Colombia, Peru, Suriname and Ecuador) in the frame of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). The study of ACTO’s activity is becoming a particular relevance currently, when the integration processes in Latin America are going through crisis and it's difficult to predict the prospects of regional dialogue, including the environmental component, connected with the social and economic factors. Considering this research, the authors drew on the theory of regional integration, the neoliberal IR theory and used the problematic-chronological method in considering the program documents and projects of ACTO.

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The article considers political, economic, social and cultural aspects of Brazilian-African cooperation at the end of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century. At the present stage, after two decades of active development, Brazilian policy towards Africa has been losing momentum. Nowadays the cooperation between Brazil and African countries requires developing a new strategy.

Brazil and Indonesia: Horizons of a Strategic Partnership * There are many similarities between the national growth of Brazil and Indonesia. Both countries are rich in natural resources, play a vital role in the establishment of regional blocs, are members of G-20 and adhere to the principles of preventive diplomacy. The objective of this article is to show the role of the concept of strategic partnerships in the foreign policy of Brazil, whose international influence in the UN and other global structures is actively growing, and also to identify the characteristics of such partnership with Indonesia. Southeast Asia is becoming extremely important for the international economic system, and Indonesia, located on 17,000 islands, has an important geostrategic position, since all major sea routes in the Indian and Pacific Ocean pass through it. Indonesia is currently distinguished thanks to its steady economic growth, political stability, integration into the global economy, and increased activity on international platforms. Consequently, it is no surprise that Brazilian-Indonesian strategic partnership has started to manifest itself not only in the development of comprehensive ties, but also in the cooperation in upholding the ideas of sustainable development, disarmament, as well as the peaceful resolution of conflicts on the global level. The authors utilized a problematic-chronological method that allowed to analyze the areas of contacts between Brazil and Indonesia in the global arena, to find the problems and promising areas of partnership-including the oil and gas sector, the exchange of technologies, the creation of favorable investment climate, the coordination of activity in international organizations, and willingness to take into consideration mutual interests.

Since 2006, when the foreign ministers of Brazil and Russia indicated their desire to turn BRICS what was previously only an acronym developed in 2001 by Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs into a political organization a lot has changed in terms of policy making, geopolitics, and international relations. Since the formation of BRICS 16 years ago, the basis for collaboration has been strengthened and the fields of cooperation have been broadened. It has evolved into an all-encompassing and multi-level framework, with the BRICS Summit leading the way, supported by BRICS Meetings of Foreign Ministers and Meetings of National Security Advisers, carrying out practical cooperation in dozens of areas such as economy and trade, finance, science and technology, industry, agriculture, culture, education, health, think tanks. Both Brazil and Russia are significant regional leaders and are leading members of important international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and the Group of 20 (G20), which places both at the center of the international arena. Although, Brazilian-Russian relations are not new; their participation in a South-South only forum such as BRICS might be noteworthy. That being said, and in order to better understand how both countries are interconnected, this paper proposes an analysis of Brazilian-Russian relations within the BRICS framework, with the goal to assess key aspects of their cooperation within it, and to argue that these relations within the framework of multilateral cooperation formats could bring both countries even closer, thus strengthening the Global South even further. The author highlights that the BRICS grouping can be viewed in two ways: a) as a new force seeking to overthrow the existing international system to create an alternative world order, to challenge the established Western powers, and to replace key financial institutions with new ones; and b) as a group of large emerging economies seeking to expand their currently limited ability to compete globally, concluding that the combined efforts of Brazil and Russia have provided some of the impetus needed to achieve this goal.