Notícias
The Deputy Prime Minister of Great Britain, Nick Clegg, visits Brazil – São Paulo, Brasília and Rio de Janeiro, 21-22 June 2011
The Deputy Prime Minister of Great Britain, Nick Clegg, will visit Brazil on June 21-22, 2011. On the first day, in Brasília, he will be received by the Vice-President of the Republic, Michel Temer, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, and will deliver a lecture at the Instituto Rio Branco. On June 21-22 he will visit São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Recent initiatives have contributed to strengthening the solid bilateral relationship, such as the signing of the Agreement on Cooperation in Matters of Defense, the creation of the High Level Dialogue in the Field of Energy, the creation of the CEO Forum parallel to the Economic and Joint Trade Committee, and the Brazil Institute at the "King's College", in London.
During the visit, Minister Patriota and Deputy Prime Minister Clegg will sign two Memoranda of Understanding: one dedicated to strengthening cultural exchange and cooperation, and another titled "Global Partnership for Development", focused on bilateral efforts to promote global poverty reduction.
The relationship between Brazil and the United Kingdom offers great potential for cooperation, especially in the areas of education, science, technology and innovation. On June 21, a Roundtable on the UK-Brazil Partnership in Higher Education will be held in Brasília. In 2007-2008, the Year of Science & Innovation UK-Brazil resulted in important agreements between research institutions of both countries.
Considering that the United Kingdom will host the 2012 Olympics and Brazil will host the 2016, besides the World Cup Soccer 2014, there is great mutual interest in developing bilateral cooperation on issues related to the organization of sports mega-events – such as infrastructure, security, and logistics.
Trade between Brazil and the United Kingdom reached the record figure of US$ 7.7 billion in 2010, with a US$ 1.4 billion surplus in favor of Brazil. According to records of the Central Bank of Brazil, the volume of UK investment in Brazil is US$ 974 million – thus representing the 11th largest investor in Brazil. The flow of Brazil’s direct investment in the United Kingdom reached US$ 216 million in 2009.