São Paulo – The US-based aircraft manufacturing company Boeing will help professionals in the state of Pernambuco to build ships and oil rigs. The actions are provided for in a memorandum of understanding for a partnership that was signed last Wednesday (27th) by the Pernambuco state governor Eduardo Campos and Boeing Brazil president, Donna Hrinak, who is also the former United States ambassador in Brasília.
The Boeing professionals will provide training for technicians in Pernambuco to work with equipment, fusion of materials and welding systems for building ships, oil rigs, and the oil and gas industry. The partnership provides for the transfer of Boeing-developed technology in these areas.
“The program supports strategic economic development through the expansion of education and the creation of long-term opportunities for our economy and our people,” said Campos according to a Boeing press release. “This partnership with the state of Pernambuco is a good example of how we can bring the technology and the knowledge from aviation into other industries,” said Hrinak.
The training will be provided by Boeing and Britain’s TWI Ltd. at trade schools and universities. The National Industrial Apprenticeship Service (Senai), the national soldering institute (Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia de União de Revestimentos e Materiais) and the Federal University of the State of Pernambuco will be some of the institutions contemplated by the partnership.
Boeing has also informed that the partnership is a part of the company’s strategy to win the tender for the sale of new fighter jets to the Brazilian government. Project FX-2 provides for the purchase of 36 fighter jets in an order worth approximately US$ 5 billion. Three jets are shortlisted: Gripen, by Sweden’s Saab, Rafale, by France’s Dassault, and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, by Boeing. The decision, which should be made by president Dilma Rousseff, has been postponed several times since the administration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011).
<b>*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum</b>
