Brazil strengthens South American integration with new investment agreement for strategic routes

During the 7^th Brazil Investment Forum, the Ministry of Planning and Budget [Ministério do Planejamento e Orçamento /MPO] and the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments [Agência Brasileira de Promoção de Exportações e Investimentos/ApexBrasil] signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a framework for cooperation on strengthening the objectives of South American Regional Integration.

Investment in infrastructure needs to at least double, which means having partners, foreign and domestic investment. We need more partnerships like this one with Apex, with the expertise to bring international visibility and credibility, enabling many foreign investors to put Brazil back on the investment route”
Simone Tebet
Minister of Planning and Budget

The agreement outlines objectives such as developing initiatives to promote and publicize the South American Integration Routes with the ApexBrasil audience; engaging South American trade and investment promotion agencies, as well as national and sub-national institutions and private sector entities, such as associations and companies with the potential to use the routes to integrate the physical and digital infrastructure between countries. Another goal is to encourage and support actions and projects aimed at increasing investment and facilitating trade across South American borders.

Organized by the agency, the event brought together investors, businesspeople, authorities and experts to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the investment environment in Brazil. During the Forum, the Minister of Planning and Budget, Simone Tebet, presented details of the construction of five South American integration routes.

The projects aim to connect Brazilian cities such as Manaus, Santos, Campo Grande, Belém and Cuiabá with prominent ports in other South American countries — such as Coquimbo and Antofagasta, in Chile; Chancay, in Peru; Manta, in Ecuador; Buenos Aires, in Argentina; and Montevideo, in Uruguay.

“Intra-regional trade in Latin America does not reach 18%. If we have a digitally connected world, with border security and customs, we can do it without fear of making mistakes. We are talking about more tourism, more jobs, more imports and exports,” stated Minister Simone Tebet.

The memorandum also provides for multidimensional regional advances, based on the exchange of experiences, technical sectoral knowledge, ideas and lessons learned related to the cross-border integration agenda. It also includes the planning of joint activities in areas of common interest to promote foreign investment; as well as collaborating in the association of other entities for the integration agenda. Finally, it provides for the planning of joint activities aimed at promoting gender equality and women empowerment.

Tebet stressed the need for more private investment. “Infrastructure investment needs to at least double, which means having partners, foreign and national investments. We need more partnerships like this one with Apex, with the expertise to bring international visibility and credibility, enabling many foreign investors to put Brazil on the investment route,” she explained.

INTEGRATION ROUTES — The five South American Integration and Development routes project seeks to encourage and strengthen Brazil's trade with South American countries and reduce the time and cost of transporting goods between Brazil and its neighbors and Asia. Currently, in addition to visiting each of the eleven border states, the MPO is holding talks with the South American countries on each of the routes.

A total of 190 projects under the New PAC are aimed at contributing to regional integration. The integration works on Brazilian territory can count on financing of USD 3 billion from the Brazilian development bank BNDES [Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social], while the regional development banks — the Inter-American Development Bank [Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento/BID], the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean [Banco de Desenvolvimento da América Latina e Caribe/CAF] and Fonplata — have made another USD 7 billion available.

“We are in a position to launch one branch of each of these five routes by the end of President Lula's term, because all the necessary works are already in the PAC and will have no fiscal impact; they are already in the budget,” said Tebet.

The minister also highlighted those that could be inaugurated by 2026. “On the Amapá side, we can open by the end of 2026, via Route 2, the most ecological one, at COP30 in Belém do Pará in 2025. We are going to reach the port of Chancay, which is the largest Chinese investment in Latin America. From Chancay to Shanghai, we are going to reduce maritime transportation by at least 10 days,” she said.