BayBrazil: What are the goals of the San Francisco Trade Promotion Bureau?
Evaldo Freire: To foster business partnerships between Brazil and the U.S., especially in the region in our jurisdiction comprised by Northern California and the States of Oregon, Washington and Alaska.
BayBrazil: How do you do that?
Evaldo Freire: By supporting Brazilian companies that wish to export to the U.S., assisting American companies interested to import from Brazil and promoting partnerships for investments in both directions.
Evaldo Freire, Deputy Consul General of Brazil in San Francisco
BayBrazil: What are the leading sectors?
Evaldo Freire: IT and green tech. On May we will host three Brazilian enterprises that will participate in the Brazil stand at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco: Actminds, CI&T and Inspirit. These companies are specialized in cutting edge software development and business intelligence.
BayBrazil: How about the cleantech sector?
Evaldo Freire: There is great interest worldwide on Brazil’s biofuels technology. In 2007 Brazil and the U.S. signed a cooperation agreement in this sector and we are now working to further efforts to transform ethanol in an international commodity. It has the potential to increase the demand and make this biofuel accessible to U.S. and other markets such as Africa’s. It’s important to emphasize that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently announced that sugar-based Brazilian ethanol can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 61% compared to gasoline.
BayBrazil: Are there Californian companies working with Brazil in the development of the green technologies?
Evaldo Freire: Yes. Amyris, in Emeryville, has opened an R&D and demonstration facility in Brazil to work together with the Brazilian sugar cane producers in the development of renewable diesel and jet fuel using sugar cane as a feedstock. Our goal is to encourage other bi-lateral scientific collaborations such as this.
BayBrazil: What everyone should know about Brazil?
Evaldo Freire: This is the Brazil moment. The economy is growing and the rising middle class is opening opportunities for new markets. Brazil’s remarkable leadership in green tech development, along with the offshore oil discovery, brings new perspectives to partner with American companies and I’m here to support anyone who wants to work with Brazil.
