Brazil: Bureaucracy Is Killing Latin American Trade

A cargo that could reach the Pacific in four days can take as many as 20 days, due to bureaucratic difficulties in Latin American trade, especially with Bolivia.

This information comes from Cloves Vetoratto, the special secretary of Strategic Projects of the Mato Grosso state government, Brazil. “Inter-regional trade suffers from serious obstacles we need to settle,” he said in an interview on Brazil’s National AM Radio.


A seminar was just held in Cuiabá, with the participation of governors from Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, in an attempt to formulate a work agenda and a timetable of responsibilities for each of the countries.


A Brazilian delegation including the governor of Mato Grosso, Blairo Maggi, spent 11 days traveling through Bolivia and Peru to gain first-hand knowledge of the problems that Brazilians face in these countries.


According to the secretary, bureaucracy constitutes the biggest obstacle to trade. “We were able to corroborate that crossing the Andes is not difficult; the difficulty is crossing the bureaucracy, the bureaucratic barriers that exist between these countries,” he reports.


Brazil and Bolivia have an agreement eliminating the need to use a passport between the two countries. Nevertheless, “these agreements haven’t been adopted in the field, and passports are still required. These are dozens of hindrances, and at each point it is necessary to present personal and automobile documents,” he says.


The obstacles in one country end up setting off a cascade effect. “If Bolivian customs creates a problem, Brazilian customs goes one better, so we need to sit down and talk,” Vetoratto explains.


Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil’s Indigo Maker Tear Tíªxtil in Expanding Mode

Brazilian textile mill Tear Têxtil Indústria e Comércio is going to invest 36.4 million ...

With Slow Growth of 2.7% Brazil’s GDP Reaches US$ 2.4 Trillion

Brazil’s GDP grew 2.7% in 2011, compared to what GDP was at the end ...

Brazil Wants to Re-Nationalize Vale, World’s Largest Iron-Ore Producer

According to Brazil's most respected weekly magazine, Veja, the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio ...

Foreign Reserves and Investors Way Up in Brazil

Brazil’s international reserves reached US$ 62 billion at the end of the first quarter ...

Brazil: Revving Up the Propaganda Machine

A government sponsored public relations campaign for the Lula administration is scheduled for September ...

Brazil Prods Colleges Into Adopting Quotas

Brazil’s Ministry of Education’s (MEC) Afro-Atitude Program will distribute 500 scholarships to students of ...

For This Brazilian Thinker Obama’s Mission Is to Lead Armed Militia of Radicals

"What can we expect from an Obama government?" is the question of the hour. ...

Africa and Brazil Get a Step Closer

The intensification of relations between Brazil and Africa got a shot in the arm, ...

Brazil and China Want More Trade Opportunities Between Both Countries

A debate on the electric energy sector, at São Paulo’s Intercontinental Hotel, marked the ...

Brazil Starts US$ 133 Billion, Ten-Year Push in Search of Oil and Gas

Energy corporations will invest US$ 133 billion in the next ten years looking for ...