Brazil’s Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci, evaluated as positive the Brazilian presidential delegation’s trip to South Korea and Japan. With South Korea, a new trading and technology investment channel was open.
With Japan, according to the Minister, “the result regarding methanol was beyond expectations.”
Palocci informed that, for years, this issue had been cautiously discussed in Japan, because there was resistance to the mixture of methanol with gasoline.
But, he added that in the meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi they established an agreement to conclude studies on the subject.
Palocci said that the decision demonstrated Japan’s understanding that methanol has an important strategic meaning. And because Brazil is a leader in the technology, there may be an increase in trading and technology export.
“Brazil also has the best industrial complex. Our methanol production is the most efficient in the world, in terms of cost and volume. And considering the escalating oil prices, the subject becomes even more important,” he said.
South Korea decided to release entry of Brazilian poultry meat into that country. Brazil is working to have its cow meat also accepted.
In the commercial field, Palocci expects that the works of Ministers Roberto Rodrigues (Agriculture) and Luiz Fernando Furlan (Development) produce short-term results, due to the positive receptiveness to the requests of the Brazilian delegation.
In Palocci’s opinion, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva transmitted a very important message during breakfast with Japanese authorities, when he talked about the long-term stability of the Brazilian economy.
“Japan is a conservative country in regards to investments, that is why the President’s words were so important: to demonstrate the country’s solidity not only due to the current administration, but also through a consolidation process that has been occurring over the last years, which involves fiscal stability and the combat of inflation,” said the Minister.
He added that the President’s message may have “touched” Japanese investors, who don’t like to expose themselves to risky situations and like to examine the economy in detail.
Agência Brasil