Transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: Ladies and gentlemen, Business Council chairmen and members. I’d like to say a few words at the beginning of our conversation.

First, thank you for coming for this meeting. I’m grateful to you for inviting me to this meeting with Brazilian business circles with the participation of a number of business people from Russia. I’d like to say right away that my visit to Brazil is going very well. Yesterday I had intensive and productive talks with President Dilma Rousseff and co-chaired a meeting of the High-Level Commission with Vice President of Brazil Michel Temer. We discussed different issues, including some that are probably of interest to you. We spoke about trade and economic cooperation, projects on science and technology and humanitarian issues.

We have stated that relations between our countries are growing stronger. Even in the years that I visited Brazil several times, the changes that have taken place are clear. We proceed based on the premise that these relations amount to a strategic partnership. We maintain productive cooperation across the most different platforms, including those that are vital for business – G20 and BRICS. We are not just shaking hands or patting each other on the shoulders. We discuss specific issues. Sometimes we hold BRICS summits before G20 meetings to consolidate our positions. I think this is important, all the more so as we are also establishing new integration associations, such as the Customs Union, with our neighbours Kazakhstan and Belarus. Naturally, Brazil is also actively cooperating with its Latin American partners in MERCOSUR (the Southern Common Market) and UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations). So in this context we should also share our impressions on the integration processes.

We have important points of contact, such as joint preparations for sports competitions, including the Olympic Games and the world football championships that take place in our countries. But we share similarities not only because we are hosting so many competitions. We have much in common, including the role of our economies in the development of global economic processes.

In fact, even our economic problems are similar. I remember 2008. I was watching with anxiety the dramatic fall of the Russian stock index. When I looked at what was happening in Brazil, the situation was absolutely the same, up to the numbers. Today our economic conditions are also fairly similar.

Please note that the Russian economy grew by about 3.5% in 2012. This is a moderate figure: not too good and not too bad. The Brazilian economy shows similar growth rates. We have about the same inflation rates as well. However, for us this is an achievement, but for Brazil it sounds more like a problem, because we are coming from very high inflation rates that were measured in double digits until recently. The level of unemployment in Russia is not bad at all. It’s the lowest since 1999 at almost 5.7%. This is a really good number, and we are quite happy with it. But we must work on keeping it that way.

Our business relations with Brazil are the mainstay of our relations with Latin American countries. Brazil is Russia’s largest partner in South America. We are closely following the development of trade in this region. Our bilateral trade was up in recent years, but we saw some alarming signs last year when it shrank. This is something that should be discussed.

Much of our trade includes exporting mineral fertilisers from Russia and importing agricultural products from Brazil. I believe we can do better than that. We should diversify our trade, but this may take years to accomplish. We have many good projects in various areas, such as modernising the Brazilian space rocket VLS-1, promoting shared use of the GLONASS system, supplying Russian equipment for hydroelectric power stations (we discussed this issue in detail with the President yesterday). I believe that establishing cooperation between Russian companies, such as Power Machines, and their Brazilian counterparts has good prospects. Another project is building a bus-making plant in Bashkortostan and establishing a joint venture between KAMAZ and Marco Polo.

We supply equipment, including helicopters and military equipment, to Brazil, but I believe that we still have too few joint projects. I’m sure you're going to ask me about our plans in agriculture, keeping in mind the fact that Russia remains a major market for Brazilian meat. Brazil is Russia’s largest exporter of agricultural products, that’s a fact. Importantly, it’s imperative that we not only build up bilateral trade, be it fertilisers or meat, but also create joint ventures, especially since Russia is in need of the modern livestock production techniques that Brazil excels in.

There’s one more subject that I would like to mention. Russia is making fairly active efforts to improve its investment image. It’s doing so with varying levels of success: some things work out well for us, some don’t. Brazil has gained expertise in creating a positive image of itself as a nation over the past years. You’ve been working on it for quite a while now. The image of Brazil is that of a dynamic and appealing country, so we can focus on this aspect of our relations as well. What is the goal? There are technical and tactical goals, such as (we talked about this yesterday with my colleagues) bringing our trade up to about $10 billion. This is a fairly good amount given that our current trade figure is about $6 billion.

On the other hand, let's see if this number is really what we want, because our trade with China currently stands at almost $100 billion. I believe that Brazil’s trade with China is also very significant. I’m citing China just as an example, because I’m sure that we can expand our cooperation at a much higher rate. Our respective development institutions, business associations and influential regional authorities can play a very important role in promoting such cooperation. Brazilian states and Russian regions are maintaining contacts, which is great. A team from St Petersburg is coming to Brazil soon. Heads of states and regional leaders from Brazil are welcome to come to Russia, because direct contacts between them and Russian regions are no less important than contacts at the highest levels of government. The Russian Government will do its best to support such contacts.

Friends, thank you for having me here. Thank you for being up so early, at least for Brazilian time, since it’s fairly late in Moscow. Let's continue the discussion.

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