US-Brazil CEO Forum – Brasilia, June 19, 2015

On June 19, Itamaraty Palace will host the ninth session of the U.S.-Brazil Chief Executives Forum (“CEO Forum”). Created in October 2007 to facilitate bilateral trade and investments, as well as to identify ways to achieve the competitive integration between the two economies, the forum is composed of 12 CEOs and two government representatives from each country, who periodically present recommendations to the two governments.

From the Brazilian government, the participants in the forum are the Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Aloizio Mercadante, and the Minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Armando Monteiro. From the US government, the participants are the Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker (who will not actually be present on this occasion, being represented instead by the Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Bruce Andrews), and the Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs, Caroline Atkinson.

Among the representatives of the private sector,  the Brazilian section is composed by:

COTEMINAS (textiles) - Josué Christiano Gomes da Silva (head of the Brazilian section); AMBEV (beverages) - Bernardo Pinto Paiva; BRADESCO (bank) - Luiz Carlos Trabuco Cappi; Cutrale (orange juice) - José Luis Cutrale; DASA (health) - Pedro de Godoy Bueno; EMBRAER (aviation) - Frederico Curado; EUROFARMA (pharmaceutical) - Maurizio Billi; Gerdau (steel) - Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter; JBS (food) - Wesley Mendonça Batista; KROTON EDUCATION (education) - Rodrigo Galindo; PETROBRAS (oil and gas) - Aldemir Bendine; and STEFANINI (IT) - Marco Antonio Silva Stefanini.

In the US section, the companies and respective Chief-executives at the forum will be as follows:

ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND (food) - Patricia Woertz (head of the US section); AES CORPORATION (energy) - Andres Gluski; BAKER & MCKENZIE (law) - Eduardo Leite; CITIGROUP (financial group) - Michael Corbat; GENERAL MOTORS (cars) - Mary T. Barra; HARRIS CORPORATION (telecommunications) - William M. Brown; INTERNATIONAL PAPER (pulp and paper) - Mark S. Sutton; MERCK (pharmaceutical) - Kenneth Frazier; OSY SYSTEMS (equipment) - Deepak Chopra; PRAXAIR (industrial gas) - Stephen Angel; and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION (integrated architecture) - Keith Nosbusch.

At the meeting, the Brazilian private sector, in coordination with the US private sector, plans to present new proposals for work in the areas of infrastructure (project bank, “project preparation, project management”), innovation (ultrafast broadband) , health (National System for Early Diagnosis) and trade (projects for trade facilitation and regulatory convergence).

Among the main recommendations of the Forum already implemented,the extension of business and tourist visas from five to ten years, the signing of the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ATEC), the signing and  promulgation of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA), and the establishment of the Aviation Partnership can be highlighted.