The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, defended this Wednesday (18.jan.2023) financial and infrastructure integration between the countries of Latin America. He said that Mercosur was “abandoned” in recent years and said he wants new nations to join the economic bloc.
Haddad said that the region needs to focus on renewable energy to attract foreign investment. An example of this is connecting Latin America with a transmission line to promote clean energy in the region and attract foreign investment.
He stated that countries will have to adapt to the economic scenario of 3 economic powers: the United States, Europe and China. He participated in a panel with the main leaders of Latin American countries in Davos, Switzerland.
Haddad said there are some “particularities” in clean energy that need to be noted, whether wind, electric, solar or green hydrogen. He stated that they have advantages over other forms of energy, but considered that there is a limitation, the difficulty of transportation.
“You don’t transport electricity, wind or solar energy like you transport oil. This can be an advantage. […] You can interconnect the Americas with transmission lines, but this can be a determining factor for attracting companies, industries that want to produce from clean energy so that their entire production chain is in step with the environmental determinations that are today unavoidable“, said.
Haddad reinforced that clean energy is a central environment for the reindustrialization of the region, but that the model will not be sufficient for the growth of Latin American countries.
“It is a necessary condition, a decisive element of the ecological transition, but I think that the integration of our markets, in order to gain considerable scale, is another important element for attracting foreign investment compatible with our needs to offer higher quality jobs to our workers“, said.
The panel had the participation of the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, of the Dominican Republic, Raquel Peña, and of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves. It was mediated by Marisol Agueta de Barillas.
Panel was attended by the presidents of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, of the Dominican Republic, Raquel Peña, and of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves
FINANCIAL INTEGRATION
Haddad said that investment in education alone is not enough to make Brazil and the countries in the region grow. He stated that it is necessary to seek foreign capital. According to him, there is an important deficit in quality jobs.
He said that the scale of markets is not a trivial issue, but a central one. “If we don’t think about international integration, it will be very difficult for us to take off.”
Haddad also stated that Mercosur was abandoned in recent years and defended the incorporation of new countries. He said that it is necessary, however, to have higher ambitions than what has been displayed so far in the last 20 to 30 years.
“I think it will be very difficult for the region to re-enter the world with the concrete possibility of attracting well-being, with an industry 4.0, ecological transition and all the benefits that technology can bring us“, said. “Everywhere you see opportunities that will be better taken advantage of if there is integration of infrastructure, energy, commercial. And, who knows, more ambitiously, an integration of the financial markets in the region that still lack competitiveness, cheap credit and access for the low-income population to specific lines of credit for the development of micro-enterprise, cooperativism, small and medium companies”, he completed.
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Haddad said that Mercosur needs to have greater ambitions
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS WITH LULA
The Minister of Finance declared that the President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (EN) has a “known governing style” and increased Brazil’s relations with the world in an unprecedented way.
He said that PT governments have never stopped looking at Latin America with “generous eyes”. Haddad argued that international integration is a “imperative” for the development of Latin America.
“This was due to the fact that we had a very active diplomacy during those 8 years, in which we not only did not deny participation in international forums, but also activated diplomacy to effectively make Brazil and Latin America have a voice.“, said.
Haddad said that Brazil’s relationship with Mercosur, the G20 and the Brics helped the country to grow “one and a half times the world average during the 8 years of Lula’s government”.
“The world grew 2.5%, Brazil grew 4.1%”, said Haddad.
The minister stated that some analysts attribute the higher GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the period to the favorable international scenario with the ‘commodity boom’. But he argued that, compared to other countries that benefited from that economic context, Brazil stood out.
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Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance) spoke for 6 minutes and 44 seconds
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