Statement by Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the opening of the Embraer Seminar in Saudi Arabia

I would like to congratulate the Saudi ministers who are taking part in this event.  I would also like to congratulate the Saudi Arabian businesspeople, the Brazilian businesspeople, the Brazilian ministers — and to say that I took great care to make this speech very short, because in a little while I am going to get on that plane and head to Doha.  Our comrade, the President of Embraer, when praising the company, said that it is the world's third largest airplane producer.  The third.  What he failed to say is that it may be the third in revenue, in size, but in terms of quality, it is equal or first.

So he may say to His Highness, the crown prince, that if he wants to buy a plane, anyone in this sample is excellent.  That green and yellow one is a presidential plane.  That plane is at the Brazilian presidency's service. I have traveled on a lot of them, as I have traveled on many other Embraer planes — and they are all great and comparable to any other planes produced anywhere in the world.  I am saying this because, once, President Bush went to Brazil and visited a city and an exhibition about Brazilian ethanol.  Later, at a gas station, there were two American cars: a Ford and a GM.  Both of them pulled over and President Bush said he could not take pictures near the cars because he could not advertise any car companies from the United States.

And it made me think: why can't a president advertise a product, an industry in his country to be sold elsewhere?  And I then took a stand. I have already been president of Brazil twice.  I am president for the third time and I want to say that I am very proud of defending any and all Brazilian companies on my visits abroad.  All of them — because I think this is a president’s role.  It is trying to show that the company one is talking about deserves to be praised.

If Embraer was not deserving, I would not be here at the end of the launch of Embraer products, while it is trying to do business here.  And I want to take the opportunity, in front of the president of Embraer, to say: the importance of Embraer goes way beyond selling planes here.  Embraer must also say to our Saudi friends: “I want to sell, but I want to set up a company here too, and I want to produce, to share the planes with you, so that we can sell the world planes that were made in Saudi Arabia.”

And then hold an event with an Israeli company, with a Saudi Arabian company, and sell them to whoever wants them.  Brazil must take into account that good international policy is sharing partnerships, doing things together, building together, and selling together.  That is why I am here telling you that Embraer planes are extremely good.  I'm already 78 years old — it seems like I'm only 30, but I'm already 78 —, and for half of these 78 years I have flown on Embraer planes, because the company was established in the 60s. It is an extraordinary company.  It was bigger and had more employees.

When I visited Embraer in 2006, it had 23 thousand workers.  And now Embraer has started growing again, and has started selling around the world again.  I want to say that I am very proud to be here as a poster boy for Embraer — because this plane that it is selling replaced the old Hercules, but it is a jet, it is extremely good.

Since Saudi Arabia has a lot of money and needs to take a lot of cargo to many places around the world, this plane was made exactly to meet Saudi Arabia's interests and dreams.  So you might as well buy this plane too.

Since its creation in the 1960s, Embraer has always been at the forefront of technological development, representing Brazil — which harbors an extremely advanced industry.  People who talk to Brazil sometimes think it is just an agricultural country — because in the 60s it was just about coffee.  But Brazil is a country with a very advanced industry, and we want this to be disseminated and shared with the people of Saudi Arabia.

Today Embraer is a great global success; is present in all continents; and exports to more than 100 countries and 60 armed forces.  But the planes that we export to the armed forces are not for waging war, they are for carrying the flag of peace — for trying to get negotiators to create peace.  They are not for taking soldiers to attack people.

The company is also a leader in the field of ​​environmental sustainability.  It develops the most efficient aircraft on the market, and studies how to apply green technologies to zero-emission aircraft using hydrogen, electrification and sustainable aviation fuels.

This places Brazil among the very few countries in the world that possess full capacity in aeronautics, that master the entire cycle of aircraft development, certification, manufacturing, export and maintenance.  My government sees the partnership opportunities between Brazil and Saudi Arabia in the space sector as very positive.  It opens up an arena for long-term cooperation, and brings together technological development and environmental sustainability, taking the bilateral trade and investment agenda to a new level.

I just want to tell Embraer management that I wish you all the success in the world.  I want to say that our Saudi Arabian colleagues will be doing great business if they establish a partnership with Embraer.  Embraer already has a partnership with Portugal.  We already produce in Portugal.  We once produced in China. I do not know if we have produced in Argentina, but what we want is for Brazilian companies to gain scale.  To not be in third place anymore.  To work towards being the first— and me am sure Saudi Arabia will help us achieve this.  That the next flight I take to Saudi Arabia may be on a Saudi Arabia-São Paulo airline, and that we may fly on an Embraer plane, because it will take a plane with a little more autonomy.  Good luck, Embraer, I wish you every success and I hope that Saudi Arabia does good business with you. 

Thank you very much.