From June 30 to July 2, 2025, the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies partnered with the Brazilian Naval War College and our sister center, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), to convene a high-level symposium on enhancing maritime defense cooperation in the South Atlantic. The event brought together over one hundred experts from the United States, Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Portugal to assess current and emerging security challenges across the region.
Discussions focused on strengthening maritime domain awareness, advancing regional naval cooperation, and promoting joint operations aimed at improving collective security in the South Atlantic. The symposium also emphasized the growing relevance of public–private collaboration, particularly with maritime industry partners and the defense industrial base, as a means of addressing increasingly sophisticated technological challenges.
Participants highlighted a wide spectrum of threats impacting the region, including transnational organized crime, narco-trafficking, piracy, armed robbery, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. These activities have significant economic and political ramifications for Atlantic supply chains and national sovereignty. A key conclusion of the symposium was the pressing need to develop and institutionalize cooperative mechanisms to address these complex, often hybrid, and rapidly evolving threats to maritime security. The dialogue took place through expert panels, working groups, and peer exchanges focused on advancing collaboration and strengthening maritime governance.
Consul General Ryan Rowlands of the US Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro offered welcome remarks, followed by a keynote address by Dr. Isaac Kardon, senior fellow for China studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who spoke on China’s global port infrastructure and its implications for maritime security. Perry Center participation included Deputy Director Ruben Lopez, Professor Luis Bitencourt, Research Associate Sydney Knapp, and Operations Officer Liliana Besosa, alongside Africa Center Academic Dean Assis Malaquias, Brazilian Naval War College Director Rear Admiral Gustavo Leite Cypriano Neves, and Dean of Academics Admiral Paulo Martino Zuccaro.
The event reaffirmed the Perry Center’s and Africa Center’s shared commitment to fostering international cooperation and advancing strategic dialogue in support of maritime security objectives.
