Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated today, during his address at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, that he believes that Brazilian exports this year are going to exceed the US$ 108 billion initially forecasted by Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan.
In 2004, the shipping of Brazilian products totalled US$ 96.4 billion.
According to the President, “Brazil has made the decision of living a cycle of sustained growth” to last “10, 15 or 20 years.”
Lula also discussed the advances that occurred in Brazil during the last two years. He mentioned, among other things, the approval of the Social Security and Tax reforms, the Public-Private Partnership law, the advances in the social area, the tax adjustment, and the main initiatives in foreign policy for the creation of a “new trade geography”.
“The more plural our relations and the less dependant we are on one market, the greater are our chances of avoiding damages to our trade balance when an important country goes through a crisis,” stated Lula.
In the same line, he pointed out the closer ties between Brazil and the countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and, especially, efforts for the integration of Latin America.
He qualified these steps as “similarity policy”, i.e., the increase of relations with nations that have problems similar to those of Brazil.
At the end of his address, the Brazilian president stated that the Mercosur is currently much solider than in the past, the possibility of physical integration of South America is much more real and, mostly, the economic and tax conditions of Brazil are much stronger.
ANBA ”“ Brazil-Arab News Agency