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internacional do PT), published by the Party’s International Relations Secretariat.The document was debated and approved at the Party’s fourth Congress, held inFebruary 2010. In addition to solidarity, the policy mentions two further centralprinciples of PT foreign policy: plurality and Latin-Americanism. PT argues that owingto its own history of plurality, of bringing together numerous ideological andpolitical strands, it prizes plurality in international life. It also claims a significantdifference in Brazilian foreign policy in this regard since 2003: “We do not haverelations only with those who “think like us”; but also with those who, regardless ofminor or major ideological differences, face political problems similar to those weface in the international arena”. 519Underlining the Party’s promotion of Latin Americanism, there is the recognitionthat Brazil’s global role is strongly linked to the future of Latin and SouthAmerica. 520 In addition, regional integration is considered an integral dimension ofBrazil’s foreign policy for the purpose of building regional autonomy and resisting“foreign meddling”, 521 as well as to safeguard and fortify national developmentstrategies which would eventually founder in isolation. 522 The emphasis on regionalintegration is framed in the assumption that “the development of Brazil is linked tothe development of its neighbouring countries, [and] is the best way to overcomesome of the fears and prejudice that exist in some neighbour (sic) countries”. 523For Marco Aurélio Garcia, adviser to the President on foreign policy, the nationalproject embraced by PT called for the framing of a new foreign policy. This policyhas three central components, namely: social inclusion; a more wide-rangingdemocracy; and the assertion of national sovereignty “within a Latin Americancontext”. 524519 PT, 2010: 13.520 Ibid., 32.521 Ibid., 31.522 Ibid., 7.523 Ibid., 31. This view is confirmed by Marco Aurelio Garcia, who writes that, “...anynational project had to be coupled with the regional, for sustained national developmentnow needs to be closely linked to the growth of the whole South American zone”. SeeMarco Aurélio Garcia, “Brazilian future”, in OpenDemocracy, 16 July 2003, accessedonline at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-think_tank/article_1367.jsp on 30September, 2010.524 Garcia, “Brazilian future”.211