Brazil's New Role as an Economic Power:

Opportunities and Challenges - a one-day seminar

Fredag, 11 november, 2011 - 09:15 to 15:00

Seminar on Brazil - Opportunities and Challenges

Topic

Along with Russia, India, and China, Brazil today is considered one of the most important emerging markets in the world.  In the mid-1990s, the reforms of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003) made the political system more accountable and inflation was brought under control.  Meanwhile, privatization, and economic deregulation turned around the economy and opened it up to greater competition and foreign investments.  His successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), the first socialist ever elected to the presidency, surprised most observers.  As he had promised all along, his policies made a concerted effort to address illiteracy and poverty.  However, he decided to keep the basic thrust of Cardoso's pro-market agenda as a way to generate employment and investments.  This coincided with the Asian economic boom which boosted the Brazilian commodity exports tremendously.  The recent discovery of large oil reserves inside Brazil's territorial waters added to a general sense of optimism.  The result has been a long period of economic and political stability, record foreign investments, a major decline in poverty levels and a corresponding expansion of the Brazilian middle class.  By the time "Lula" retired from office, he enjoyed unprecedented approval rating.  His hand-picked successor, Dilma Vana Rousseff, will have a tough act to follow.  Growth is expected to decline in the next couple of years and inflation is accelerating.  At the same time, long standing problems like corruption, high labor costs, and a heavy tax burden remain unsolved.  What is in the cards for Brazil in the near future?

Thematic Issues

This seminar will analyze a number of interrelated issues, from different points of view, in order to better understand the recent socioeconomic developments in Brazil and the possible opportunities for Danish companies and investors.  The following are some of the questions that the invited speakers will address:

1. What are Brazil's political and economic challenges ahead?

2.  How does Brazil compare to other major emerging markets? 

3. How does Denmark fit into Brazil's commercial and diplomatic relations?   

3. Conversely, what are the aims' of Danish foreign policy with regard to Brazil?

4.  When it comes to the private sector, what prospects does Brazil offer for Danish companies and investors who want to diversify their portfolios?

Representatives from the Brazilian Embassy in Denmark, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as several academics, and members of the business community have been invited to answer these questions.

The programme for the seminar can be seen here:

Speakers at the event:

  • Brazil’s Ambassador in Denmark, Gonçalo Mello Mourão

  • Head of Section Karina Johansen, Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  • , OECD Investment Division, Paris

  • Ken Shadlen, London School of Economics

  • and , Nordea Bank

All are welcome but registration is necessary: send an e-mail to Merete Borch, mb.iadh@cbs.dk, no later than November 7.

Sidst opdateret: Communications // 24/10/2012