Brazil Is Building a “Great Project”, Tourism Minister Says

Brazil Is Building a “Great Project”, Tourism Minister Says

Fernando Pimentel, Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil, told the World Economic Forum on Latin America that a new form of consensus in Brazil is taking shape towards the construction of a “great” national project. “The country has found its way and it will carry on,” he said.

Political stability and economic growth have turned Brazil into the seventh largest economy and a powerful magnet for investment and capital flows. The government of Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the presidency at the beginning of the year, still has to face a series of challenges ranging from inflation, exchange rate appreciation, infrastructure and public security.

But Pimentel was confident that there is now a new spirit of conciliation in the country to deal with these issues. “What is happening in Brazil is a convergence of opinions towards a great project.”

Pimentel said that the government is determined to control inflation, as the consumer price index is moving towards 6.5 percent per year, even though exchange rate appreciation is one of the undesired consequences.

Meanwhile, the governors of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have both hailed progress in public security in their respective states. Sergio de Oliveira Cabral Santos Filho, Governor of Rio de Janeiro, pledged that all the territories and communities controlled by gangs in Rio will be back in state hands by 2014, when some games of the FIFA World Cup are due to be played in the city.

His government forces have already retained control of some areas of the city that were previously controlled by drug traffickers and rival gangs. “There has been a radical change that has given hope to the population,” he said. “By 2014, we will manage to regain control of 100 percent of the communities that are still in the hands of the parallel power.”

The World Economic Forum on Latin America is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 27-29 April 2011. The theme of the meeting is “Laying the Foundation for a Latin American Decade” and convenes more than 700 top regional and global leaders.