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The
First EU-Brazil Business Summit occurred on
the 4th July 2007, in parallel to the First
Political Summit |
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The First EU-Brazil Business
Summit occurred on the 4th July 2007, in parallel
to the First Political Summit, and was jointly
organized by the Portuguese Industrial Association
- Entrepreneurial Confederation (AIP-CE), the Portuguese
Industrial Confederation (CIP) and the National
Confederation of Industries from Brazil (CNI), in
collaboration with the BUSINESSEUROPE, and sponsored
by the European Commission, by the EU Portuguese
Presidency and by the Brazilian Government.
The 180
Brazilian and Portuguese entrepreneurs present
at the event, congratulated themselves for having
the Business Summit at the same time of the Political
Summit, which allowed the businessmen to meet the
government leaders of both regions.
During the CEO's Round Table, companies made the
following recommendations to the political leaders,
for the EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership:
- The Doha Round: The EU and Brazil
should use their collective weight in the WTO
to bring the Doha Round to an ambitious conclusion
by end-2007.
- EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership: The
Partnership is a good platform for dialogue.
It should enhance EU-Mercosur relations and
contribute to the successful conclusion of the
stalled free trade agreement negotiations.
- Investiment, Infrastructure, PPPs:
Companies fully support policies to increase
investment in infrastructure. The involvement
of the private sector through public-private
partnerships and public concessions will increase
the impact and efficiency of these investments.
- Competitiveness and Innovation: The
EU and Brazil must implement policies to promote
competitiveness and innovation in order to drive
the core goals of growth and jobs.
- Energy and Climate: Brazil and the
EU should work together to promote a multilateral
framework for tackling climate change. There
is also a need to promote standards and open
markets for biofuels and for the raw materials
used in their manufacture.
In the opinion of business leaders, this partnership
is also an opportunity to consolidate the ongoing
cooperation activities and define priorities in
the areas of common interests. For this agenda to
generate the expected results, it is important that
it will be treated as a relevant and integrated
project in which initiatives are put forward under
general coordination at the highest political and
institutional level. In view of the importance of
this agenda for the business sector, Brazilian
and European entrepreneurs recommended the creation
of a public mechanism for monitoring the implementation
of the agenda. It shall be incumbent on this mechanism
to define the goals and deadlines, as well as to
attribute responsibilities.
Lastly, European and Brazilian companies considered
that Business Summits have an important role
to play in the intensification of the economic relations
between both sides and, therefore, decided that
these summits will be regularly organized, alternately
in the EU and Brazil, taking into account the calendar
of the EU Brazil political summits.
European and Brazilian companies have also decided
to designate as Co-Chairmen of the next EU-Brazil
Business Summit, Mr. Jorge Rocha de Matos (AIP-CE/CIP),
for the European Union side and Mr. Armando Monteiro
Neto (CNI) for the Brazilian side.
The discussions that took place during the CEO's
Round Table, morning session, have generated a joint
declaration delivered during the afternoon session
of this event to the political leaders: Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva - President of Brazil, José
Manuel Durão Barroso - President of the European
Commission, and José Sócrates - President
of the European Union, so that they could consider
their 13 recommendations for the New Strategic Partnership
to be launched at the First Political EU-BRAZIL
Summit.
The event's lunch counted with the following honored
key speakers: Peter Mandelson (European Commissioner
for Trade), Benita Ferrero-Waldner (European Commissioner
for External Relations), Miguel Jorge (Brazilian
Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade),
Luís Amado (Portuguese Minister for External
Relations) and Manuel Pinho (Portuguese Minister
for Economy and Innovation). |
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