Importing and Exporting

In the last decades, Brazil has gone from being essentially a basic goods provider to a country with an extremely diversified industrial economy. In the field of science and technology, for example, the country has climbed from 28th to 17th place among countries with a relevant scientific production, thanks to the presence of over 79 thousand researchers and scholarship students operating in universities and the private business sector.

Windows of opportunity

In order to balance the economy, the country recently carried out reforms to its social security (state and retirement pensions) and tax systems, with the noteworthy addition of a Fiscal Responsibility Law to control public expenditure at federal, state and municipal government levels. With a focus on administration efficiency, policies were created to encourage exports, industry and trade, thus creating "windows of opportunity" for local and international investors and producers.

Support for the productive sector has been simplified at all levels; Congress and the Judiciary Branch can actively and independently carry out the evaluation of rules and regulations. Among the main measures taken to stimulate the sector are the reduction of up to 30% on the Manufactured Products Tax (IPI) and the investment of R$2 billion on road cargo transportation fleets, to improve distribution logistics.

Information and business

Further resources guarantee the propagation of business and information telecenters, providing important data for businessmen and entrepreneurs. The Policy for Industry, Technology and Foreign Trade, at the forefront of the sector, for its part, invests R$ 14.5 billion in specific sectors, following the example of the software and semiconductors, pharmaceutical and medicine products, and capital goods sectors.

With these alterations in place, Brazil has reduced its vulnerability: the country imports 9% of the oil destined for its own use; it has halved its internal debt through exchange rate-linked certificates and has increased exports by an average 15% a year. The exchange rate does not create industrial or inflationary pressure - inflation stands at a current 7% a year - and avoids a liquidity crisis.

Programs

The quest to increase the base of the country's export companies led the Brazilian Government to include the Export Culture Program in the 2004/2007 Brazil for Everyone Pluri-annual Plan (Plano Plurianual Brasil de todos 2004/2007). The programs encourage the participation and support the export potential of small businesses, with actions such as the promotion of Foreign Trade Meetings (Encomex); skills training; tuition and guidance on the export business through the Agent Network Project; edition and distribution of technical material providing guidance for export businesses.

A culture of competitiveness will be encouraged in Brazil taking into consideration the development of an exporting culture, followed by the development of the offer of exportable goods and by developing the promotion of Brazilian products abroad. The following are examples of programs whose objective is to provide the conditions to increase exports:

· The Brazilian Export Program
In operation since November 2003, the Brazilian Export Program brings together various government agencies and institutions under a single badge, involving a further 45 programs and projects. It comprises initiatives such as the diffusion of the image and culture of Brazil abroad through institutional campaigns; the strengthening of credit insurance for exports; the creation of lines of credit for small exporting businesses; skills training for professionals; product design training for small and medium-sized businesses; creation of export consortiums; technological product adaptation, among others.

· Industrial, Technological and Foreign Trade Policy (PITCE)
A development initiative that joins financial, technological, logistic, commercial and structural support programs, with possibilities for innovation and future projection. This is the reality of the Industrial, Technological and Foreign Trade Policy (Política Industrial, Tecnológica e de Comércio Exterior - PITCE), launched by the Brazilian Government in March 2004. It comprises 57 measures, which have innovation as their main axis. For this very reason, it is foreseen that one of the instruments to be applied among these measures is the Law of Innovation, which will consolidate the relationship between research institutions, universities and businesses, which will allow, for example, for the shared use of equipment.

· Law of Innovation
The Law of Innovation is organized around three axes: to provide a suitable environment for strategic partnerships between the universities, technological institutions and businesses; to encourage the participation of science and technology institutions in the innovation process; and to encourage innovation in businesses.

It anticipates authorization for the incubation of businesses in public areas and the possibility for the sharing of infrastructure, equipment and human resources, both public and private, for technological development and the generation of innovative products and procedures. It also establishes rules, which will enable researchers from the public area to carry out and develop applied research and technological improv.