Brasília, October 3, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The government wants to spend less on technology imports. This is the main objective of the Brazilian Technology Network Program, signed yesterday (2) by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Petrobras, and Eletrobrás. The idea behind the agreement is to develop products with national technology capable of meeting domestic demands and competing with foreign companies.

The first products will be created to serve the petroleum, energy, and mineral areas. They were chosen, because they have the largest budgets for the coming years. In the initial stage, the Ministry of Science and Technology will invest R$ 10.4 million in the program. The resources will be drawn from the CT-Petro and CT-Energy sectorial funds.

According to the Minister of Science and Technology, Roberto Amaral, data indicate that spending on imports will drop significantly with this agreement. "In the petroleum area alone, we hope to achieve annual savings of US$ 1 million," he said. (DAS)