Agência Brasil
Brasília – In testimony at the Foreign Relations Committee in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday, vice president Jose Alencar declared that there are no internal problems in the government with Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations.
Alencar was responding to questions regarding differences of opinion in the cabinet on FTAA negotiations. He explained that in his opinion there were diverse opinions allowing the country to move toward constructive negotiations. "Like my daddy used to say, there are stumbles that help people move along. What I can say is that we have moved ahead since Cancun," he said.
The vice president praised the negotiating abilities of Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, calling him "well-prepared." He added that broad, complicated negotiations such as FTAA had to include representatives of the productive and exporting segments of the economy. "Nobody knows the market better than those people," said Alencar, himself a successful businessman.
On the other hand, Alencar said he understood the need to be firm in the negotiations while avoiding confrontations. "We can be valiant without shouting about it," he said, adding that what Brazil has to learn is "how best to defend its own interests." The objective, he said, was to enable Brazil to be competitive in a free market situation.
Asked about the trade surplus, which should close out the year at a record US$22 billion, Alencar denied that there was a policy to restrict imports. "The only restriction on imports are Brazilian interest rates," he declared.
