Rousseff Calls Brazil the ‘Land of Opportunity’: Daily

By William Jones, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff said the country is becoming increasingly prosperous during a meeting at the Bill Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) by citing the country’s improved unemployment statistics, production capacity, availability of natural resources and ability to attract foreign investment to the economy.

“Brazil is increasingly becoming a land of opportunity,” Rouseff told the congregation at the CGI summit. “As a producer of food, proteins, significant mineral resources, diversified industry and producer of renewable energy and oil, this explains why Brazil continues to attract direct investment,” she said.

President Rousseff also applauded the country’s decade-long economic growth that gained it the title of one of the world’s most dynamic emerging markets. “Until the end of 2012, the economy experienced growth after a long period of stagnation but it was not done at the expense of social inequality, on the contrary, in fact, it included that as a boosting factor of our economy,” she said, highlighting her and her predecessor’s emphasis on social justice.

“We have created significant market for mass consumption and social policies and income transfers that allowed lifting 36 millions out of misery,” Rousseff added. However, critics will feel Rousseff’s statements are in contrast with recent economic figures that are showing Brazil’s GDP might close the year with a modest 2.2 percent increase.

Rousseff also claimed her and former President Lula’s term had resulted in twenty million jobs and high wages. “The wage policy gave a rise in the appreciation of the minimum wage where the average real wage increased by 27 percent year on year. We have also created a significant amount of jobs. We’ve created over 4.8 million jobs by October, and this year we will reach one of the lowest rates of all time unemployment, which places Brazil in an enviable position in the world today. Over the past ten years, we have created twenty million formal jobs,” Rousseff explained.

Established in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a non-partisan organization that brings together business, media and political leaders to find solutions for today’s most pressing problems. A delegation from the organization that includes former U.S. President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton arrived on December 9th and will leave Rio de Janeiro on December 11th.

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