Brazil: a destination for doing good business Walfrido dos Mares Guia Minister of Tourism

Brazil is not just a country of great natural beauties and regional historical and cultural diversity that is noted throughout the world. Brazil is also an excellent destination for making investments and for doing business. Here we have the offices and industrial parks of some of the most important companies in the world. We have excellent products for exporting and for internal trade like shoes, jewelry, handicrafts, textiles, foodstuffs, plastics, building materials, aircraft, and we are host to the largest and most important trade fairs in South America.
Here in Brazil we place our bets on Business Fairs. Just take a look at the UBRAFE calendar for 2006. Altogether there will be 150 fairs which should bring together 35 thousand companies counting Brazilian and foreign companies, and in twenty Brazilian cities. It is expected that six million people will visit these fairs. Just to give an idea, this is the size of the population of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
In this third year of the Lula Government, tourism has shown the results of the priority that has been accorded to the sector. These are numbers that have never been recorded before. After years of deficits, we have now accumulated a surplus. Tourism is now among the top products in our balance of trade. During the Lula Government, the country has been registering sustainable growth. Not only has tourism benefited from this but it has collaborated in developing the national economy.
In this scenario, Business Fairs are much more than mere spaces for buying and selling. They are sure places for investing and achieving success.

Walfrido dos Mares Guia
Minister of Tourism