By Gillian Tett/Financial Times The Brazilian financial system has contained a striking local quirk in recent years. Unlike most other large economies, Brazil has insisted that any global bank that wanted to operate within its borders had to create subsidiaries, with their own capital, rather than branches of a head office. This stance seemed unfashionable [...]
Posts from ‘November, 2009’
Mystics and marvels in a lost world
By Rhiannon Batten, from The Observer With its colonial towns, spectacular landscape and New Age scene, the landlocked state of Goiás could be Brazil’s best-kept secret. A dip into one of the many waterfalls in Goiás is a highlight of a visit to the state. Photograph: Alamy On a languid summer evening, the pavements of [...]
Brazilian president says ‘gringos’ must pay to protect Amazon
Associated Press Photograph: Fernando Bizerra Jr/EPA Speaking before Amazon summit, Lula calls on industrialised countries to provide financial help to halt deforestation Brazil‘s president said today that “gringos” should pay Amazon nations to prevent deforestation, insisting rich western countries had caused much more environmental destruction than the loggers and farmers who cut and burn trees [...]
Ahmadinejad in Brazil: Why Lula Defies the U.S.
By Andrew Downie, from Time.com Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wave to journalists at the Itamaraty palace in Brasilia Eraldo Peres / AP A swing through Latin America this week by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has prompted the Obama Administration and U.S. congressional leaders to signal their [...]
4 Common Misconceptions About Brazil
By Connection Consulting After providing consulting for numerous business to start up in Brazil, we have learned that there are a few subjects related to bureaucracy and perceptions about Brazil that catch foreigners by surprise especially when they are planning to set up or already are in the process to open their business in [...]
The Amazon’s crusader, taking on the world
Photo: Elza Fiúza – Agência Brasil By Juliet Eilperin, from The Washington Post When international climate negotiators convene next month in Copenhagen, Brazilian politician Marina Silva will serve as the conference’s unofficial philosopher-activist. A native Amazonian who grew up in a community of rubber-tappers, Silva worked with murdered Amazonian activist Chico Mendes, won the prestigious [...]
Brazil Elbows U.S. on the Diplomatic Stage
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO, from The New York Times BRASÍLIA — Brazil’s ambitions to be a more important player on the global diplomatic stage are crashing headlong into the efforts of the United States and other Western powers to rein in Iran’s nuclear arms program. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday that the world [...]
An Influx of Business Wealth in Rio
By VICTORIA GOMELSKY, from The New York Times Photo by Pedro Kirilos/Riotur Rio is expected to attract billions in public and private investment over the next few years. RIO DE JANEIRO — On Alexandra Daly’s most recent visit here in May, she was booked into a hotel across the street from the most [...]
Brazilian Wind Power Gets a Boost
By ROBERT P. WALZER from The New York Times EPA Brazil will hold its first wind-only energy auction next month in a move to diversify its energy portfolio. Foreign companies are scrambling to take part. Early this decade, a drought in Brazil that cut water to the country’s hydroelectric dams prompted severe energy shortages. The [...]
After Lula
By John Prideaux: São Paulo bureau chief, The Economist Whoever wins, Brazil should remain in capable hands after its presidential election Latin America’s largest economy is enjoying its best moment for a long time. One of the last countries to enter the global downturn started by the financial sector in 2007, Brazil was also one [...]