Transcript of door-stop interview of Minister for External Relations of the Federative Republic of Brazil Celso Amorim and Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo, 29 February 2008

Minister Yeo: First I must say how delighted I am to receive an old friend, Celso Amorim from Brazil to Singapore. We have been colleagues for many years in the WTO, in the trenches of the WTO. Well, I got out of the trenches but he's still labouring away, making sure that the multilateral trading system is in good repair. He's a leading player, and indeed, Brazil is a leading player in the world by any measure we use in Singapore or the UN. For the reform of the UN Security Council, we have supported the inclusion of Brazil as a permanent member. Bilaterally, our relations are expanding rapidly and the future is very bright.

Brazil is a remarkably well-endowed country. It is an agricultural superpower and if you look at our markets today, the frozen meats market is increasingly being dominated by Brazil. But there is so much more that we can import in terms of agricultural products, in terms of dairy products, in terms of juices, in terms of frozen pork; and if we can expand links in those areas, it may help dampen price increases in Singapore, because we're all suffering from the inflation in food prices. We talked about how we can expand the framework for trade. There is a tax haven issue which we have discussed and Minister Amorim is helping us navigate the Brazilian bureaucracy because their Finance Ministry is naturally afraid that revenue will be lost. But the result of tax haven status is that our investments in Brazil and Brazil's investments in Singapore end up having to make acrobatic manoeuvres through third countries, which is in fact a revenue loss for both countries, so we're trying to think of ways and means to overcome this.

Prime Minister will be visiting Brazil, dates have been arranged in November this year, and we have an invitation to President Lula to visit Singapore. He is very busy but we're hoping that when he's in Asia this year or next year, he can visit us, and there are many other things we are working together on. We're also promoting Singapore's links with Mercosur. When I was in New York at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, I signed an agreement for greater exchange between Singapore and Mercosur countries. When we were in Brasilia for the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), we had on the sidelines, a breakfast hosted by Minister Amorim between ASEAN Ministers and Mercosur Ministers; and he's proposing to host a meeting between the ministers of both sides in Brazil at the end of the year. It's a proposal which we fully support. So it is a good relationship, an expanding relationship, and we're delighted to have Minister Amorim here to give it a strong push forward. Celso?

Minister Amorim: Well, I want first of all to thank my friend and colleague George Yeo for the magnificent arrangements for my visit. I was happy to be here. I promised you I would come here. I have to tell you I am not on a big tour of the region. I came just for two countries - Vietnam and Singapore, and his invitation has always been one big attraction to be here. I was happy today to also meet the other ministers including the Prime Minister and we also had a business seminar, so things are happening also in the field of business which of course is very important.

Our trade is expanding very quickly. I know that Singapore is a giant when it comes to trade and Brazil probably still has a long way to go, although we are a big country. We have a very large economy, one of the largest of the developing world, but there's a lot to be done. In any case, in the last few years, our trade has increased four-fold which is already very significant. There are investments coming into Brazil, of course there are also investments from Brazilian companies coming to Singapore. Brazilian companies are internationalising themselves, so on the whole, it has been a very productive visit.

I am very grateful to my friend George Yeo not only for the words he said now, but for the active support that we have had from Singapore in terms of the UN reform. I think it's not only an aspiration of Brazil, it's a necessity of the system itself. And of course in the WTO, I'm still trying to complete the job that he left unfinished because he was our great leader, especially in the agricultural committee, but we are now trying to finish and I am sure that we will be able to honour this heritage and conclude this round which is so important. So I want once again to thank George for receiving me here. We have had this long friendship, and of course relations between countries are also relations between people, and this good friendship of ours I think, is helping Singapore and Brazil to get nearer to each other.

Minister Yeo: I should add that we have two shipyards in Brazil and they employ over 20,000 Brazilian workers. They do huge contracts converting old super tankers into floating platforms for storage and oil operations, they build rigs... they do wonderful things. And there are little Singapore communities there working very well, and sometimes intermarrying Brazilians, and making their contributions to the local economy. We have investments in cellulose pulp. Temasek is establishing an office there. A few Brazilian companies are establishing themselves here - Embraer, which is a very important aircraft company in the mid-range. They have established their regional headquarters in Singapore, they have simulators here, they train people here, they store and distribute spare parts here; so it is going to be a big story for the future and we're just opening the book.

Minister Amorim: One area may be, since Minister George Yeo mentioned Embraer, is actually very important, which I think is now the third largest aircraft builder in the world after Boeing and Airbus. I think we just overtook Bombardier of Canada and we had fights in WTO, but the two companies are now in good understanding; but the best proof was when Air Canada bought many, many planes from Embraer. I think what we have to work together on a lot, is air links. I mean it's now a little bit better but it doesn't make sense that our two countries are on the equator, but I have to go all the way to the North Pole to come back to Singapore and vice versa; so this is something, and also maritime transportation. I must say Brazil is very interested in cooperation from Singapore in terms of port administration, and also airport administration - the control of air traffic, because these are the problems that we face and we don't have an enormous amount of experience in. But there are areas like science and technology, and many other areas that we can cooperate, and I think we are just discovering ourselves, and the companies are also discovering themselves.

Minister Yeo: Thank you very much.

Minister Amorim: Thank you.

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