Rio, 28 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Sérgio Amaral, launched today a special program of service exports. The program will have US$ 500 million in financing from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). According to Amaral, the program is part of the government's efforts to improve the exports in this sector, reducing the deficit from US$ 8 billion registered in 2001.

Amaral reinforced the importance of joint actions between businessmen and the government to improve the exports, emphasizing that Brazil is competitive in tourism and civil engineering sectors. The minister also recalled that, over the first months of the year, the export volume fell 5%, but he said he is confident in a recuperation. The surplus of the last 12 months is of US$ 4.9 billion, close to the target US$ 5 billion for this year. (WPS)