S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The Brazilian Chief of Staff, Dilma Roussef, a likely candidate of the Workers Party (PT) to succeed president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, confirmed today (25th), in the city of S\u00e3o Paulo, that Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia, has manifested interest in exploring for oil in the Brazilian pre-salt layer.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the oil companies, in particular Saudi Aramco, will be very welcome in Brazil,\u201d she said in a press conference to foreign correspondents. Dilma stated that the company expressed its interest during the visit that Lula made to Riyadh in May this year. <\/p>\n
According to her, the interest that was shown was underscored by the Saudi minister of Petroleum, Ali Al-Naimi, also during Lula\u2019s trip. As reported by ANBA at the time, the Brazilian president invited Naimi to visit Brazil and look into possibilities of partnership between Petrobras and Aramco.<\/p>\n
\u201cCooperation with the Arab world is welcome,\u201d said Dilma. The minister added that Brazil is open to international companies, private or state-owned, that are willing to invest in the pre-salt. \u201cThere is a unique opportunity available right now for private and state-owned participation,\u201d said she, referring to discoveries of large reserves made recently in the country\u2019s territorial waters.<\/p>\n
The energy sector was one of the main topics approached by Dilma in the interview, as prior to being the Chief of Staff, she was the minister of Mines and Energy. She stated that more than just extracting oil, the government wants to encourage the supply chain of products and services for the sector, including the building of platforms, vessels and drilling rigs, and also to boost the refining and petrochemical sectors. \u201cWhy export crude petroleum?\u201d, she asked.<\/p>\n
Shortly before the UN conference on climate change, due December in Copenhagen, Denmark, the minister claimed that the oil discoveries notwithstanding, Brazil is at the cutting edge of renewable energy sources, and intends to remain that way. She mentioned ethanol and biodiesel, both of which are widely used as fuels in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of renewable energy, we are unbeatable,\u201d she said. \u201cWe believe that a deeper ethanol market will be better for us,\u201d she claimed, referring to Brazilian efforts to propagate alcohol fuel production around the world and turn the product into international commodity. She stated that the sugarcane zoning, issued this month by the government, prevents farming in areas earmarked for preservation and food production.<\/p>\n
Environment <\/b><\/p>\n
She also spoke at length about the environment, said that the government is committed to the matter, and highlighted electric power generation, which in Brazil is mostly done by hydroelectric plants.<\/p>\n
According to Dilma, the government is contemplating implementing a model of \u201cplatform plants,\u201d i.e. building plants in forest areas that are isolated from civilisation, to be accessed by helicopters, similar to what takes place in oil platforms. This, according to her, would prevent the creation of urban centres in the woods and the resulting environmental impact.<\/p>\n
With the possible presidential candidacy of former minister of Environment Marina Silva, who is currently a member of the Green Party (PV), the environmental issue will certainly be a highlight in the debates for the election due 2010. Accused of favouring development in detriment of the environment, Dilma denied the accusation and claimed that preservation and reduction of emissions are among the government\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n
She declared that the biggest challenge facing Brazil in this sector is reducing deforestation, and added that the government has set \u201cclear-cut goals\u201d to that end. \u201cWe have had an outstanding performance this year,\u201d said the minister, referring to the 34% reduction in deforestation rate in the Amazon, recorded in August by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).<\/p>\n
Dilma called attention to the fact that Brazil has committed to reducing its emissions by 4.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2020. She underscored, however, that emerging nations cannot bear the burden alone, and said that developed nations must take their share of responsibility.<\/p>\n
21st century power <\/b> <\/p>\n
The minister also talked about the Brazilian economy in general, and said that the country \u201cis truly becoming a 21st century power.\u201d She stated that economic stability is an important conquest, and called attention to the Brazilian resistance to the international financial crisis. \u201cAll macroeconomic data point to great strength in the recovery and solidity of economic foundations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In her opinion, the country will go back to having a good growth rate as early as 2010 and the domestic market should see \u201csignificant appreciation.\u201d The combination of economic and social growth is going to turn Brazil into a country of great opportunities,\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n
Along the same lines as Lula, she called for reforms in multilateral financial institutions, such as the IMF, so as to grant greater representation to developing countries, and said that the discussion of matters such as market regulation and the end of tax havens cannot be put aside with the end of this crisis. \u201cWe cannot work in 2009 with institutions that date back to 1945 or 1946.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dilma claimed that, at the height of the crisis, the government called on the Central Bank and on the country\u2019s state-owned banks, i.e. the Bank of the Brazil and the Federal Savings Bank, to irrigate the economy with credit, but denied the interventionism that the Lula administration has been charged with. \u201cThere is a false opposition between the public and private sectors, we are the government that established the most partnerships with the private initiative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She asserted that government action during the crisis was meant to \u201csave companies.\u201d \u201cNow we are part of the solution [for the crisis]. Our policy of partnerships with the private sector is clear to see,\u201d she stated. The minister claimed that the government is not interventionist, because it does not intend to own companies in order to operate on the market, but rather that it is \u201cnationalistic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elections <\/b><\/p>\n
The elections were also a recurring theme during the interview. Questioned about the poll conducted by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI) and the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (Ibope) that was disclosed this week, pointing to the governor of the state of S\u00e3o Paulo, Jos\u00e9 Serra as the favourite presidential candidate, and to her in a tie in second place with congressman Ciro Gomes, Dilma underscored that the approval rate of Lula and his administration \u201cis quite significant for any candidate.\u201d In other words, the minister believes that in the presidential campaign of 2010, the rate of approval should be converted into votes for the government\u2019s candidate, which she is likely to be. \u201cThe government has things to show for itself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
To her, the poll conducted more than one year before the election is \u201ca piece of advice,\u201d but only shows \u201ca certain moment\u201d and is also a \u201cflashback\u201d to the last election, in an allusion to the fact that Gomes and Serra have already been candidates for presidency. Dilma added that Marina Silva\u2019s joining the presidential race is a positive thing. \u201cI believe that she is a good candidate, she is very welcome, it is a signal of the maturing of the Brazilian society,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n
Honduras <\/b><\/p>\n
With regard to diplomacy, Dilma also underscored the Brazilian government\u2019s stance of supporting the restoring of president Manuel Zelaya to power in Honduras. Ousted by a coup and exiled from his country, Zelaya has managed to return, and is taking shelter since last Monday at the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not negotiate certain principles, as in \u2018if the dictatorship becomes less harsh, then we will negotiate.\u2019 No, democracy is not open to negotiation,\u201d said the minister, alluding to the possibility of the provisional government remaining in power up until the Honduran elections in November. Brazilian diplomacy, with the support of the UN and of the remaining American nations, wants Zelaya to be restored to power.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The statement was made today by the Chief of Staff, Dilma Roussef, in S\u00e3o Paulo. In an interview to foreign correspondents, she also claimed that Brazil is going to be a ‘power of the 21st century.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-economy"},"wps_subtitle":"The statement was made today by the Chief of Staff, Dilma Roussef, in S\u00e3o Paulo. In an interview to foreign correspondents, she also claimed that Brazil is going to be a 'power of the 21st century.\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}