São Paulo – The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) entered into two agreements this Tuesday morning (21). One is a general cooperation arrangement, and the other a technical cooperation deal designed to attract investment, including a work plan outlining the initial steps to be taken.
The documents were signed by Apex-Brasil president Sergio Segovia and Embrapa president Celso Moretti (pictured above) during a ceremony at the Apex-Brasil headquarters in Brasília. The event was attended by Brazil’s Agriculture, Livestock and Supply minister Tereza Cristina.
The partnership is intended to help enhance agriculture and livestock farming in Brazil. It provides for tandem work towards industry competitiveness and integration with global value chains, through synergistic agendas of agricultural research, international promotion work, and foreign investment attraction.
“We will bring our expertise together to promote the best that Brazil has to offer, with the understanding that agribusiness is our country’s main driving force. These agreements will open up new work fronts for Apex-Brasil, in initiatives relating to innovation via startups and the attraction of investment into agricultural research and development. Additionally, we might also work on content development, so as to increase production and availability of market intelligence material as well as promote the country as a crucial player in global agribusiness,” a press release quoted Sergio Segovia as saying.
“This partnership will allow Embrapa and Apex-Brasil to access markets and investors, enabling the shopping for funding and the coming of bigger, more robust investment to Brazil. I have been in several missions coordinated by Apex-Brasil, including a recent one to the UAE, for instance, and I envision great opportunities for our tandem work,” Celso Moretti was quoted as saying.
Embrapa’s president mentioned some of the actions that the agreements will enable, including work with startup companies that rely on Embrapa technology, attraction of investment into R&D with backing from Embrapa’s 43 research centers, shared use of the organizations’ overseas facilities, and strategic intelligence work towards developing agribusiness production.
Embrapa is an agriculture research company with ties to Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture. Apex-Brasil is a government-affiliated agency that works to promote Brazil and its products abroad, as well as to attract foreign investment.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
