Rio, July 7, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The economy has everything it needs to grow at higher rates, the ex-Minister of Finance, Pedro Malan, declared today in Rio de Janeiro. He recalled, however, that there are no magical solutions, "nor rabbits to pull out of a hat." Malan cited a point of view identifical to his own, expressed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and by the current Minister of Finance, Antônio Palocci, that growth should and can be achieved with macroeconomic stability, political, administrative, institutional, and judicial stability, credibility and confidence, and "clarity in the rules of the game in regulatory contexts."

With respect to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the ex-Minister affirmed that the economic bloc is inevitable and that a country like Brazil has to be an integral part of the process that is under discussion. In his view, the United States imports something like US$ 1.3 trillion, and this is an important fact to consider, as well as the market penetration power of Brazilian firms in various sectors, such as agrobusiness.

Malan added that hemispheric integration is not easy. No trade negotiation was ever easy, he said, because the interests of many countries are involved. "But I think that this is an inexorable process and that Brazil has an important role to play. The country should not imagine that it can remain on the sidelines," he judged. (DAS)