Brazil offers to replace Russian energy and Ukrainian grain

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes stressed that Brazil could be “the solution” to European needs for energy and agricultural products, thanks to its “security of supply” and regulations, at a time when “everyone is recalculating geopolitical risks” after the war in Ukraine.

In an interview with EFE on Wednesday, Guedes stressed that Brazil, in addition to its current and future utilities, must gain importance at a time when the different regions of the world are analyzing an “industrial relocation” to avoid the problems of logistics, transportation or shortages of products such as semiconductors.

The industrial investments that used to be made in Asia “could now be shifted to Latin America,” he said, recalling that the West has a long history and very close ties with a region in which nations such as Spain and Portugal have played a leading role.

In a time of “shadows” in international politics and given the problems and dependence of the Old Continent on Russian gas, fertilizers, and oil, or grain produced in Ukraine, the minister recalled the possibility that “Brazil could take its place” as a producer of raw materials and staples such as corn in an economic and regulatory environment that has already benefited Spanish companies such as Telefónica, Santander, Iberdrola, Mapfre, Acciona, and Repsol, among others.

He expressed his belief that Brazil will be a “focus of investment and development” for Europeans in the coming years if the country can “successfully absorb the incoming investments” and provide the rest of the world with raw materials, products, and energy.

He pointed out that Brazil is in the process of privatizing national companies and will introduce tax incentives to attract investment, with regulatory stability and “the certainty that contracts will be respected.”

In addition, it is not just about one sector, “since Spanish companies” operate in insurance, banking, infrastructure, communications and 5-G, oil, gas, or the development of hydrogen in a country “committed to green energy.”

In a meeting with executives of Spanish companies on Wednesday, he pointed out that the executives valued maintaining a stable regulatory environment and promoting “new and clean energies,” recalling that Iberdrola, for example, will soon build its first wind farm in the country.

“The government will promote and invest in the use of clean energies without neglecting the environment,” he stressed, inviting to analyze the problems of the energy dependence of Russia and the potential of some Latin American countries.