Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – Organization, between June 13 and 18, of the 11th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) in the city of São Paulo, the main financial centre in Brazil, will help consolidate the city as the "centre for political and economic debates in the southern hemisphere," informed São Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin on Wednesday (02), after meeting Unctad secretary general Rubens Ricupero, at Bandeirantes Palace, the offices of the state government.
Apart from that, Alckmin pointed out that the meeting will be very important for consolidation of the position of São Paulo as "the capital of business tourism" in Latin America, as thousands of authorities, businessmen, and representatives from the civil societies of 192 countries are going to participate in the conference.
"An event of world importance like this one will be of great significance to a city that is living more and more off the service sector," stated the governor, who expects a great number of guests at hotels, restaurants, public buildings, leisure, and tourist areas in the city.
That is not to mention the main objective of the event that, in the worlds of the governor, is a search for greater efficiency and competitiveness by the developing countries within a "global world."
Competitiveness
Ricupero, in turn, pointed out that the problems of product offer and competitiveness in these countries will be one of the main focuses of the Unctad. "It is not worth opening opportunities through trade negotiations if the country does not have quality products with good prices, and sufficient offer," stated the ambassador.
As an example, he stated that Brazil already has problems to supply the demand for products such as paper, iron ore, and steel due to lack of investment in production in recent years. In his evaluation, developing countries must diversify and add value to their trade baskets.
Ricupero explained that various debates are going to be turned to "dynamic" sectors of the economy, such as electronic products. "Although countries like Brazil export very much, the trade basket is dominated by commodities, which are products whose demand does not grow much," he stated. In his evaluation, it is necessary to multiply examples like that of Embraer, the Brazilian modern aircraft maker.
In this point of view, one of the themes to be discussed at Unctad is "creative industries," which includes not only the so-called "cultural industry," but also the software sector. According to the ambassador, this market moves over US$ 1.3 trillion worldwide and investment opportunities in the area will be presented during the conference.
On June 9, before the opening of the Unctad, the UN organization is going to promote an event about "cultural companies" at the OCA exhibition hall in Ibirapuera Park, the largest park in the city of São Paulo, together with BrasilConnects, a company belonging to banker Edemar Cid Ferreira.
Safety
For an event this size, security is always a matter of concern. Governor Alckmin guaranteed that all precautions have already been taken. The system will be managed by the Armed Forces, but policing will done by the Military, Civil and Federal police.
In the area of health, the São Paulo city hall will be responsible for medication at the convention centres, and state of São Paulo will be responsible for providing hospital services to those in need.
After opening the event, governor Alckmin will offer a lunch to the heads of state present. Up to yesterday, the presidents of Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela had already confirmed their presence, so had the president elect of the Dominican Republic, the prime minister of Thailand, UN secretary general Kofi Annan, World Trade Organization director general Supachai Panitchpakdi, and Ricupero.
Ricupero pointed out, however, that the Unctad is not a summit of heads of state, but a meeting of ministers, although some heads of state do participate. The ambassador, who has been the Unctad secretary general since 1995, is going to be in the position up to September, then being replaced by an Asian diplomat to be announced by Kofi Annan.
