The official visit to Brazil by Undersecretary of State, Manlio Di Stefano, ended yesterday. After meeting with Brazil’s Foreign Minister França on the 15th of March, on the 16th of March, Undersecretary Di Stefano had several fruitful working meetings with the President of the Central Bank of Brazil, Roberto Campos Neto, and with Brazil’s Deputy Minister of Economy, Robert Fendt.
The talks focused on Brazil’s post-pandemic economic recovery and the future prospects of the Brazilian economy: “comforting aspects in view of the good performance of our investments in the Country,” the Undersecretary said. In his own words, the main challenge of the moment is “facing up to the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, which risks threatening the import of fertilizers and consequently Brazil’s agricultural production”, with heavy consequences on “global food stability”. Undersecretary Di Stefano reassured the Brazilian officials of Italy’s support in seeking a quick solution to the problem.
Italy is the world’s 8th largest investor Country in Brazil, with investments amounting to 14 billion euros, mainly allocated to the automotive and telecommunications sectors, and to power production and distribution systems. Undersecretary Di Stefano said: “Thanks to the reform and economic modernization programs currently underway in Brazil, our companies will be able to become increasingly active in the Brazilian economy,” and acknowledged, to this end, the activation of a “high-level bilateral dialogue platform between the two Countries’ key economic actors.”
Yesterday, Undersecretary Di Stefano’s mission continued in São Paulo – the economic heart of Brazil and of Latin America that alone contributes 36% to Brazil’s GDP – where he met with the Governor of the State of São Paulo, João Doria Jr., the representatives of Italian companies operating in the Country and a high-level delegation of Brazilian entrepreneurs and investors at the headquarters of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo.
The Undersecretary prompted local companies to invest more in Italy and the Italian companies to “activate new partnerships with Brazilian companies” in the light of the “their very tight economic ties, also favored by the historical affinity between the Italian and Brazilian people”. He said: “Our companies’ expansion abroad is always welcome if it does not damage employment in Italy and instead creates added value and benefits for our system too.” “This is exactly the sense of the actions of economic diplomacy, in which I believe and that I have been promoting these last few years,” he concluded.
