President Pedro Sánchez, on an official visit to Brazil, is trying to seduce the leading Latin American power with the experience and potential of Spanish multinationals in light of the opportunities opened by the return to power of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
A few months ago, his Government launched an ambitious multi-year public and private investment plan worth 320 billion euros that includes multiple projects for the energy and infrastructure transition, two areas in which Spanish companies are a global reference.
Spain is the second investor in Brazil behind only the US.
This Thursday, Sánchez visited the works on line 6 of the São Paulo metro, being built by Acciona, the largest project in progress in Latin America.
Previously, the head of the Executive participated in a business meeting held in the Brazilian economic capital.
The Spanish president has highlighted that Brazil “is a human friendly country, political ally and economic partner” and then listed its attractiveness as an investment destination: “It has an internal market of 200 million inhabitants, raw materials, a very diversified economy and resilient (...) It offers regulatory stability, political stability, controlled inflation, a solid plan to reduce public debt...".
The presence of large Spanish companies in Brazil - Banco de Santander, Telefónica through Vivo, Mapfre... - is consolidated.
They have been doing business in Latin America's largest economy for an average of 30 years.
And Telefónica has been in the country for 70 years.
That is the basis on which Spanish firms look for new projects and Brazil courts them as well.
The president of the CEOE employers' association, Antonio Garamendi, who traveled with a large group of businessmen on the plane with the President of the Government, confirmed at the meeting the relevance of the relationship with Brazil: “Here we have learned internationalization, and here we have made great.”
He has also highlighted that both the good political harmony between the Sánchez and Lula governments and institutional stability contribute to a good business environment.
However, the president of the CEOE has mentioned areas in which Spanish firms would welcome changes: “They would like the fiscal labyrinth to improve” and “we are very interested in Brazil joining the OECD.”
Brazil has recently approved a tax reform to introduce VAT and which, according to its Government, will benefit entrepreneurs and the GDP.
For Garamendi, it would be highly desirable for the EU and Mercosur to definitively close the trade agreement agreed upon five years ago and France stopped short last December.
“Not only would it open up a market for us of more than 700 million people, but it would be a continental platform” for both Brazil and Spain.
Despite the push given by Sánchez and Lula to the negotiations during the last half of 2023 when one presided over the EU and the other Mercosur, the outlook is pessimistic.
The agreement has been put on hold, at least until after the European elections.
Brazilian representatives have highlighted that there are almost 200 projects included in the economic acceleration plan, Lula's star plan for GDP growth (it closed 2023 with 2.9%, well above what was expected), creating employment and reduce inequality.
The two areas in which they place the most emphasis are the energy transition and infrastructure.
Despite the decrease in misery and the fact that the poorest have landed in the best universities thanks to quotas, half of Brazilians still lack sanitation, with what this implies on a daily basis and a burden to prosper in the future. throughout life.
The Acciona project that Sánchez visited represents 4.2 billion euros, 15 kilometers of tracks and as many stations in a city of 12 million inhabitants.
“This work also sends the message we want, that of strengthening public-private collaboration,” said the President of the Government.
And he wanted to emphasize that, beyond the technical aspect, it will significantly improve the lives of thousands of Brazilians.
“About 600,000 São Paulo residents will benefit from this work, which also supports a sustainable city model.”
And on the eve of the 8M, which he will celebrate in Chile, where he will visit President Gabriel Boric at the close of this tour, he wanted to highlight the role of the 700 women who work on the metro project.
The governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, who accompanied him on the visit, highlighted that, thanks to this new line, hundreds of thousands of people will go from spending an hour and a half to reach their destinations to 30 minutes.
Travel consumes a good part of the day in the most populated city in Brazil, especially among the poorest.
Sánchez and Lula exhibited their political and personal harmony this Wednesday in Brasilia.
And this morning he shared a visit with De Freitas, the most powerful governor in Brazil and seen as a potential successor to former president Jair Bolsonaro as leader of the Brazilian right.
Retired military man, de Freitas was Minister of Infrastructure;
He is more moderate and conciliatory than his political godfather.
The Spanish president has taken the opportunity to emphasize that both the Spanish and Brazilian economies are growing above expectations and that the commitment to the energy transition and decarbonization is a crucial element for both countries to attract foreign investments and to reindustrialize.
One of Lula's priorities in this third term was Brazil's return to the international scene after the isolation of the Bolsonaro years.
Now the country is experiencing a sweet moment with the annual presidency of the G-20 and preparing to host COP30 next year in the Amazon, in Belén (in the State of Pará).
Sánchez has highlighted that "Lula's Government is reversing the deforestation of that global public good that is the Amazon", the largest rainforest in the world.
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