During the State Visit of President Lula of Brazil in March, the President and the Prime Minister signed a joint statement. One feature of the declaration was the promotion of economic growth through trade liberalisation. As part of this there was a commitment to establish a UK-Brazil Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO).

Subsequent to the State Visit, arrangements were drawn up to set up a JETCO. This culminated in a signing by Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and Luiz Furlan, Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil in London on 10 May.

It is a government-to-government, Ministerially-led, committee tasked with furthering the UK’s strategic economic relationship with Brazil, and developing business-led vehicles to enhance bilateral trade and investment. It will be a forum that can be used to discuss areas of mutual interest with the following objectives:

• To increase the trade flow between Brazil and the United Kingdom.

• To promote the adoption of trade facilitation measures for bilateral trade flows by identifying the current and future challenges faced by companies doing business in the Brazil and UK markets, and discuss ways of overcoming these barriers.

• To raise awareness of the potential opportunities in each market and to provide support and information on how business might take advantage of the opportunities.

• To promote the establishment of partnerships between Brazilian and British companies to access third markets.

• To develop a closer relationship in the areas of science, technology and industrial policies with a view to encouraging further collaboration in this area.

• To promote the UK as a key location of choice for those high value added Brazilian companies looking to expand their operations internationally and to promote Brazil as a key location for those British companies seeking to invest overseas.

• To exchange information about regional and multilateral trade negotiations including issues of mutual interest arising from respective membership of the European Union and Mercosul.

We are now in the process of making arrangements for the first meeting of the JETCO in September in Brazil. I would ask you to consider how it could benefit your individual areas of work, specifically where it might have a positive impact on UK/Brazil commercial relations. Would you please forward details of issues you would like to see advanced through the JETCO with some brief background. All suggestions will be considered as potential subjects for discussion during the first meeting of the JETCO. Please submit your suggestions to pavlova@brazilianchamber.org.uk