São Paulo, Oct 29 (EFE).- Brazil, Latin America’s leading economy and the fifth largest global destination for foreign investment, highlighted Monday the opportunities it offers for a green economy during the Brazil Investment Forum (BIF), the largest event of its kind in the region.
Representatives from the Brazilian government and the export and investment promotion agency ApexBrasil emphasized the country’s potential in the energy, agribusiness, physical infrastructure, and innovation sectors, which are all priorities. They also emphasized the country’s environment of “institutional peace and stability.”
“Brazil’s situation is unique because the world is suffering a climate crisis and needs to make the ecological transition. The country is now offering investments in this area, and is also working on food security, with agribusiness growing, with an environment of reduced deforestation and working for sustainability,” stressed ApexBrasil President Jorge Viana.
The executive estimated that, by 2026, Brazil will reach one trillion dollars in accrued foreign investments and foreign trade flow. Viana considers this “extraordinary from the point of view of job creation and Brazil’s presence in the world.”
Investment route
Foreign investments are reaching 18.5% of GDP, according to Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin. He believes that the country has the potential to improve this figure.
“We have to attract more foreign direct investment so that we can grow in a more solid and sustainable way. And the opportunities are enormous,” the vice president said.
Alckmin, who is also the minister of development, industry, trade, and services emphasized that “there is no growth, employment or income without investments” and described his country as “the main actor in the three important global challenges: food security, energy security and climate.”
Family farming
Brazilian Minister of Agrarian Development Fernando Teixeira said that the country is one of the world’s largest food producers and exporters, with state-of-the-art technology. He highlighted the role of family farming as an important investment in the face of climate change.
The official believes this modality has “enormous power” to increase productivity through the recovery of degraded areas, especially in the Amazon region.
“We can recover vegetation cover with productive species, which today are very profitable in Brazil. This is one of the investment focuses in Brazil, the recovery of degraded areas through agroforestry systems, integrating crops, forests, and livestock,” said Teixeira.
In this sense, the minister highlighted the potential of the macauba palm, the oil palm, açaí, and cocoa, among others.
“They are inputs that provide very valuable economic results for the country. For this reason, we want to invite investors to form an alliance for the recovery of degraded areas with family agriculture associated with agribusiness and value-added,” he said.
Key agreements and discussions
During this seventh edition of BIF, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Ministry of Industry announced that they are to work together to create a unified platform, with state-of-the-art technology, to facilitate the regulatory process for investments in Brazil.
The general manager of the IDB’s Southern Cone Department, Morgan Doyle, also signed a letter of intent with Jorge Viana to establish cooperation that will help regional governments improve their ability to attract international investors.
In addition, ApexBrasil and the Ministry of Planning and Budget announced an agreement to promote an export route to the Southern Cone to promote trade in the region.
The event, organized by ApexBrasil, the Federal Government of Brazil, and the IDB in São Paulo, also brought together experts and representatives from the private sector to discuss issues such as energy transition, food security, and sustainable development.
In addition, in parallel to the panels, a meeting was held between Latin American investment promotion agencies, in which countries presented their sustainable investment policies and the importance of regional integration. EFE
Agencia EFE received support from APEX Brazil to prepare this content.