The 37th German-Brazilian Business Days were held this year from September 15 to 17 in Natal (Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil), and were opened with a highly acclaimed speech by Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourão. The meeting with a long tradition has been held alternately in Germany and Brazil by the BDI (Federation of German Industries) and its Brazilian counterpart CNI (Confederação Nacional da Indústria) for over 30 years, and is one of the most important platforms for bilateral political and economic dialogue. This year, 700 participants from the worlds of politics and business from both countries took advantage of the opportunity to engage with one another and network. And one of those participants was Waelzholz CEO Dr.-Ing. Hans-Toni Junius: “The German-Brazilian Business Days are extremely important to us. The new Brazilian government with Paulo Guedes, the internationally renowned Minister of Economy and Finance in the Bolsonaro government, is breathing new life into the country’s economy and opening it up to further international trade and investment. It is important for us to connect with government officials and business leaders in order to keep our finger on the pulse of the country’s development and to be able to adapt our business accordingly.”
The theme of the conference was “Brazilian-German Partnership in Times of Global Change,” and it was dominated by talks and discussion panels on various aspects of globalization. Dr. Junius participated in a panel entitled “Digitization and Productivity – Strategic Solutions for SMEs.” Discussions on the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Latin American trade bloc Mercosur, consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, played a major role. During the event’s opening panel, Thomas Bareiß, Parliamentary State Secretary in Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, noted that the agreement was a positive signal for open markets and regulated trade. According to Dr. Junius: “By entering into the Mercosur Agreement, the four Latin American countries and the European Union would create the largest free trade area in the world. The agreement would open up major new opportunities for our activities in Brazil.”
