Brasilia – Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said the country offers plenty opportunities for business and that Brazil’s success in the coming years is closely tied to partnerships with foreign and domestic investors. She spoke this Friday (24) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Dilma emphasized that Brazil has always welcomed foreign investments. “Aspects of the recent conjuncture should not obscure reality. Brazil more than needs and more than welcomes partnerships with the domestic and foreign private sector,” she said.
She added that investments in infrastructure must face the challenge generated by decades of underinvestment, worsened by the increase in population demand in recent years.
The Brazilian president spoke about concessions. “The aim is to add resources, increase efficiency and perfect the management of services associated to these works. Private consortiums that are participating in the concessions are related to great national and international companies,” she declared, referring to the recent bids for roads, airports and the new regulatory framework of the Brazilian port system.
Dilma emphasized the importance of improving railways to help exports of mineral ores and grains. She noted that in 2014 there will be the first railway bid for the Midwestern region of Brazil.
In relation to urban mobility, the president mentioned investments worth US$ 62 billion in subways, monorails and light rail. “One of the greatest challenges is to create a modern network that is compatible with the continental size of the country,” she said.
About oil, Dilma said that the bid for the Libra Field, in the southeast coast of Brazil, in 2013, led to a turnover expectation of US$ 8 billion, a sum which will affect the entire oil and natural gas productive chain.
The issue of using oil royalties for education was also raised during her speech. “We will transform finite richness into perennial heritage for the population: education,” she declared.
Emerging countries
When speaking about trade, the president said that it was time to overcome defensive disputes and acknowledge the sector’s role in economic recovery. “A new global economic growth cycle is beginning. As the crisis begins to fade away, a new outlook on emerging countries will take shape. With a long-term strategy focused on investments, education and productivity, we hope for an even better recovery of this international crisis.”
Dilma emphasized that the emerging economies, such as Brazil, are fundamental for global economic recovery. She believes it is premature to assert that these countries will lose strength with the end of the international crisis.
“We are speaking of countries with the greatest opportunities for investments and consumption increase. Countries that need diversified logistics infrastructure, social and urban infrastructure, energy, oil, gas, mineral ores, industrial and agricultural investments. We are societies going through a strong process of social changes, where new, dynamic markets are formed, internal markets formed by hundred millions and, in some cases, billion consumers,” she stated.
Before her, the president of the Brazilian Central Bank, Alexandre Tombini, said in Davos that the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth by about 2% in 2013 is insufficient, but noted that there is space for growth, particularly by supplying manufactured products.
“It was not good enough. We have to do more, move forward. The government has a wide range of areas to work on. We have a broad infrastructure agenda – airports, great games coming up (2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games) -, emphasizing on education, on a pro-growth agenda. We are very well organized in this sense,” declared Tombini.
According to information from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the GDP of Brazil increased by 2.2% in the third quarter of 2013.
*Translated by Sílvia Lindsey
Comments