EU-DIGEST

Brazil and France sign arms deal

Brazil has signed an 8.6bn euro ($12bn; £8.2bn) defence deal with France to buy 50 helicopters and five submarines. The deal includes transfers of technology intended to help Brazil develop its own arms industry. It was signed at the end of a two-day visit to Brazil by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

France will provide technology for the submarines, of which four will be conventional and the fifth will be nuclear-powered.

Labels: Brazil, EU, France

Forget Mercosur, sign trade accord with EU says Brazil Industry

A leading number of Brazilian businessmen belonging to the country’s powerful National Confederation of Industry, CNI, said it was time to sign a bilateral agreement with the European Union, --which would leave out Mercosur--, according to press reports in O Estado de Sao Paulo. CNI president Armando Montero Neto said Brazil must adopt a more “ambitious” position regarding trade agreements with the European Union. This week Rio do Janeiro hosted the two day EU/Brazil summit where it was agreed that both parties must speak “with one voice” in the coming Group of 20 major economies meeting on April in London. “Mercosur has become partly paralyzed and the feeling is that Brazil is shackled with limited movements; Brazil must reach bilateral agreements, Mercosur’s time is up, long overdue”, said Luiz Furlan president of the Sao Paulo based food group Sadia in an interview with O Estado de Sao Paulo.

Labels: Brazil, EU, Mercosur

Brazilian Economy Reports Strong Growth In Year To September

The Brazilian economy experienced growth of 6.3 per cent in the 12 months to September 2008, it has been revealed. Recently released figures from the Brazilian government showed the country's economy was in rude health over the period, marking it out as an ideal location for overseas property investment. The strong rate of GDP growth has been attributed to rapid augmentation in the agribusiness and construction sectors by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica, the Associated Press reports. However, with the global economic crisis likely to have impinged on Brazilian expansion in October, November and into December, growth has been tipped to slow in the final quarter of the year.

Even so, economists believe the country's economic growth for the year could be over the five per cent mark, meaning it still represents an attractive property investment location.

Labels: Brazil, Economy

Olympics Soccer: Nigeria: Dream Team Cruises to Olympics Soccer Final against Argentina - by Aliou Goloko

Nigeria qualified for the final of the soccer tournament at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday by defeating Belgium by four goals to one, 12 years after winning the gold medal at the Atlanta games. They will be playing Argentina which won a 3-1 victory over Brazil for the gold medal.

Labels: Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Olympics, Soccer

Netherlands, Brazil to Cooperate on Biofuels

On April 11, the Netherlands and Brazil signed an agreement to share knowledge about the production and transport of biofuels during a state visit by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to The Hague.The Netherlands sees itself as a potentially key transit point to transport Brazilian ethanol biofuels to rest of the EU countries. The EU has committed itself to increase its renewable energy use by 20% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, with biofuels to make up 10% of all transport fuels used by then.

Labels: Biofuels, Brazil, EU, Netherlands

Brazilian president Lula to visit Netherlands in April - by Jiang Yuxia

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will pay an official visit to the Netherlands on April 10-11, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday. Lula will visit the country upon the invitation of the Dutch Queen, Beatrix, who paid a visit to Brazil in March 2003.

Labels: Brazil, EU, Lula, Netherlands

Netherlands is Brazil’s gateway to Europe - by Wendy Braanker

The Netherlands is Brazil's gateway to Europe. Many of the country's exports find their way onto European markets via the port of Rotterdam. "What's more, the Netherlands is an important investor in Brazil," says Gilberto Vergne Saboia, the Brazilian ambassador to the Netherlands. Recently a delegation came to the Netherlands, led by the governor of the north-eastern state of Pernambuco. Its members wanted to find partners and investors, and exchange technological knowledge, says Mr Saboia. Brazil is currently having to make major investments in infrastructure. "We're facing some bottlenecks when it comes to sectors like transport and energy."It is no coincidence that the delegation was led by the governor of Pernambuco, he says. "It says something about our old links." After all, the Dutch were "present" in the region around Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, from around 1630. However, in 1654 they withdrew from the country because of the high cost of colonisation. As a reminder they left behind some stepped gables in around the city of Recife and in Olinda. This area in the north-east of Brazil is now particularly attractive to tourists, including Dutch ones.

Labels: Brazil, EU, Netherlands

Germans Consider Stepping Up Purchase of Brazil's High-Tech Goods

German minister of Economy, Michael Gloss, suggested that Brazil might increase its sales of high tech products and improve the quality of its export basket to Germany. Gloss talked during a press conference prior to the 2007 Brazil-Germany Economic Meeting being held, in the city of Blumenau, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. "To me, Brazil is capable of exporting high technology as well. Embraer's aircraft, for instance, are renowned worldwide. The country is also capable of exporting cutting-edge products in other fields, such as computing, telecommunications, transport," Gloss told Brazilian and German journalists. On the other hand, the German minister stated that he also expects for sales of tool machines and other machinery and equipment from Germany to continue growing. "Furthermore, we expect to sell biofuel production equipment and more vehicles," he said.

Despite the optimism expressed regarding Brazil, Gloss claimed that trade relations between Germany and Latin America are much less dynamic than relations with Asian and Eastern European countries. "It is something that we intend to change. We want to encourage bilateral trade with Brazil and its neighboring countries," he said.

Labels: Aircraft Industry, Brazil, EU, Germany

Scottish Beef watchdog to argue for immediate ban on Brazilian meat imports - by Dan Buglas

THE Scottish Beef Cattle Association (SBCA) is taking its case to Brussels on Monday arguing for an immediate ban on all imports of beef from Brazil. A delegation from the SBCA, including its president John Cameron and the chairman Jim Kennedy, will address the European Commission's council agricultural committee. The Scots will be joined by representatives from the Irish Farmers Association and the Irish Farmers Journal who earlier this year on a fact-finding mission uncovered what they allege are widespread failures regarding animal health and welfare as well as an apparent lack of traceability in Brazil.

Labels: Beef, Brazil, EU, Scotland

EU WARNS BRAZIL ON THE IMPACT OF BIOFUELS - by Jonathan Stearns

The European Union said Brazil must protect farms and forests at home to pry open biofuel markets abroad, seeking to prevent a clean-air campaign from causing land damage. Brazil, a pioneer in developing biofuels including ethanol, is counting on export growth as Europe, the U.S. and Asia try to reduce the use of higher-polluting oil. The EU wants biofuels, made from crops such as sugar and grain, to make up 10 percent of transport fuel by 2020 from a planned 5.75 percent in 2010.

``We can't allow the switch to biofuels to become an environmentally unsustainable stampede in the developing world,'' EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told a conference today in Brussels. ``Europeans won't pay a premium for biofuels if the ethanol in their car is produced unsustainably by systematically burning fields after harvests. Or if it comes at the expense of rainforests.''

Labels: Biofuels, Brazil, EU