São Paulo – A former Algerian minister of Finance and Economic Sciences professor at the Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris, Abdellatif Benachenhou is travelling to Brazil in order to release the Portuguese language version of his book “Emerging Countries,” a publication of the Foreign Ministry’s publishing house Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão. This Friday (19th), he visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce headquarters, where he met with CEO Michel Alaby, Business and Markets manager Rafael Abdulmassih, and Government Relations manager Tamer Mansour.
Released in 2011, “Emerging Countries” discusses 11 nations which should play leadership roles in the years to come. Brazil, which the author describes as a “player with a global vocation” is also on the list of countries that may stand out in the international scenario. Other nations assessed by Benachenhou, who was Algeria’s Finance minister between 1999 and 2001 and then between 2003 and 2005, include Russia, South Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, Chile, China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
In the book, Benachenhou acknowledges the fact that Brazil has grown over the past few years, poverty is on the way down, and the middle class is growing in number. He notes that the country is natural resource-rich and a commodity exporter, but warns that economic and social challenges lie ahead.
“There are three questions which Brazil has left unanswered. The first one is, what has Brazil done in order to adjust itself to the economic crisis. The second one is how the country will go about becoming more equal. Brazil does not boil down to São Paulo alone. Development has yet to spread to the rest of the country. The third question is how the government will go about implementing good governance, cutting spending and getting its budget in order,” he said.
Meeting with students
On Thursday (18th) he gave a talk to students at the National Meeting of International Relations Students (ENERI, in the Portuguese acronym) in São Paulo. On Monday (22nd) and Tuesday (23rd) he should meet with representatives of the Institute of Applied Economics Research (Ipea), in Brasília, and pay visits to Brasília’s University Centre, the University of Brasília (UNB), and the Finance Ministry headquarters. On Thursday (25th) and Friday (26th) he will meet in Rio de Janeiro with officials from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Petrobras, and the Municipal Olympic Company (EOM).
During his visit to Brazil, Benachenhou wanted to learn in which fields the country plays leadership role, in what areas it has potential for growth, and whether Brazilian enterprises can exchange knowledge with Arab companies. “There is no question that Brazil has the potential to be a great partner of the Arab world,” he said.
Service
“Emerging Countries”
Abdellatif Benachenhou
234 pages
Publishing house: Fundação Alexandre de Gusmão, (+55 21) 2030-6033
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
