Brazil has commended the East African Community (EAC) integration process and has expressed its desire to work closely with the five-nation regional bloc. Brazil’s Ambassador to Tanzania, H.E. Francisco Carlos Soares Luz, conveyed this message when he paid a courtesy call to the EAC Secretariat 3 May and also presented his credentials.
Dr Julius Tangus Rotich, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration received the Brazilian envoy on behalf of EAC Secretary General Ambassador Juma Mwapachu.
”We are happy with the progress achieved so far in the EAC regional integration efforts,” said Ambassador Luz at the brief function which was also attended by the EAC Deputy Secretary General (Productive and Social Sectors), Mr. Jean Claude Nsengiyumva.
?’We have a lot to share together for our common prosperity and development,” the Brazil ambassador remarked, outlining technology, energy, railways, environment, construction and the agricultural sectors among his country’s possible areas of co-operation with the EAC.
Dr Rotich thanked the ambassador for showing interest in assisting the EAC and assured him of the Secretariat’s full commitment to closer working ties for mutual development.
Ambassador Luz urged the EAC Partner States to maintain the integration tempo after the coming into force of the Customs Union and especially the Common Market, which is expected to start in July.
All five EAC Partner States have ratified the Common Market Protocol, which was signed by the EAC Heads of State in November last year, during the climax of the EAC’s 10th anniversary.
About Brazil’s Economy
Brazil has moderately free markets and an inward-oriented economy. Measured nominally, its gross domestic product surpasses $1.5 trillion dollars, the eighth largest in the world and the second in the Americas in the World Bank ranking; measured by purchasing power parity, $2 trillion, making it the ninth largest economy in the world and the second largest in the Americas, after the United States. The Brazilian economy has been predicted to become one of the five largest economies in the world.
According to the World Economic Forum, Brazil was the top country in upward evolution of competitiveness in 2009, gaining eight positions among other countries, overcoming Russia for the first time, and partially closing the competitiveness gap with India and China among the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies.
Important steps taken since the 1990s toward fiscal sustainability, as well as measures taken to liberalize and open the economy, have significantly boosted the country’s competitiveness fundamentals, providing a better environment for private-sector development.
The owner of a sophisticated technological sector, Brazil develops projects that range from submarines to aircraft and is involved in space research.
Source: East African Community (EAC)
