Notícias
President Dilma Rousseff to make an official visit to the Kingdom of Belgium – Brussels, October 3-4, 2011
President Dilma Rousseff will make an official visit to the Kingdom of Belgium, where she will hold a working meeting with Prime Minister Yves Leterme, to address bilateral, regional and multilateral affairs, and also with King Albert II. President Dilma Rousseff will also open the “Europalia” biennial cultural festival, which pays homage to Brazil in its 23rd edition. The last edition of the festival was attended by over one million people.
There is great potential in the partnership between Brazil and Belgium for cooperation on science, technology, innovation and education. Belgium universities maintain leading research programs in areas of interest to Brazil, such as fine chemicals, pharmaceutics and biotechnology, and are willing to receive Brazilian students under the “Science without Borders” program.
The partnership with Belgium has contributed to the modernization process of the Brazilian port sector. The application of information technology, the infrastructure and personnel training in ports such as Santos, Itaguaí, Porto Açu, Itajaí and Rio Grande have greatly benefited from cooperation with Belgian institutions.
Both Brazil’s and Belgium’s economy have shown a positive performance, despite a scenario of international economic and financial crisis. This favorable framework is conducive to opportunities which aim at strengthening trade exchanges and investment flows. Trade exchange between Brazil and Belgium increased 26% in the past five years, reaching US$ 5 billion in 2010.