Notícias
The President of the Republic to travel to Italy – Rome and Milan, July 10 -11, 2015
President Dilma Rousseff will make an official visit to Italy on July 10th and 11th. In Rome, on the 10th, she will meet with the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, and the President of the Council of Ministers, Matteo Renzi. On the 11th, she will visit the Brazilian Pavilion at the Expo 2015 in Milan.
This will be the first official meeting of the President of the Republic with either President Sergio Mattarella or Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. They will discuss issues on the bilateral agenda such as trade, investment, defense, education, and the strengthening of partnerships with small and medium-sized enterprises. The meetings will also allow the leaders to look more closely at multilateral issues such as the climate change negotiations and the challenges to international peace and security. Italy has been a strategic partner of Brazil since 2007.
The Expo Milano, whose theme is “Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life”, seeks to discuss issues relating to food and nutrition. The Brazilian Government is participating in the event with a pavilion that aims to publicize Brazil’s technological capacity to expand food production and help meet global demand in a sustainable manner.
In 2014, Italy was one of Brazil’s ten leading trading partners. With more than 1,200 Italian companies operating in Brazil, it is also among the top ten biggest foreign investors in the country. Brazil also has major investments in Italy, concentrated in the areas of banking, food, air transport, leather processing, communications, refrigeration compressors, and footwear sales. About 30 million Brazilians have Italian ancestors, while in Italy there is a sizeable community of Brazilian origin.
Between 2008 and 2014, bilateral trade grew by 10%, from US$ 9.38 billion to US$ 10.33 billion. Between January and May 2015, bilateral trade totaled US $ 3.47 billion.