Mylena Fiori
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - Yesterday (21), in São Paulo, the Brazilian government and the private sector signed an agreement to stimulate exports of software produced in Brazil. The agreement foresees US$ 4.5 million (R$ 11.8 million) in investments in 2005 alone - US$ 1.7 million (R$ 4.6 million) from the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex) and the rest from the Society for the Promotion of Excellence in Brazilian Software (Softex).

Total annual sales abroad are currently around US$ 500 million, as against US$ 1.1 billion in imports. The goal of the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade is to export US$ 2 billion in 2007. Software production is among the priorities of Brazil's industrial policy.

"We want to give higher visibility to Brazilian software. At present, few companies around the world think of Brazil as a producer of software," emphasized Apex president, Juan Quirós. In his view, Brazil possesses great competitive potential in areas such as bank automation, telecommunications, business management, health, security, and electronic government.

The agreement signed with Softex - a non-profit organization aimed at the development of the Brazilian Information Technology (IT) industry - creates the so-called Integrated Sectorial Project for the Export of Software and Related Services (PSI-SW), a comprehensive plan intended to increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized software producers on the foreign market.

The provisions include market studies and research, participation in trade missions, fairs, and events, and approaches to multinationals to contract Brazilian firms as suppliers of products and services, among other action fronts, with priority focused on the markets of the United States, Germany, Japan, China, Spain, France, Mexico, and Argentina, and a secondary focus on the Arab Emirates, Russia, Chile, and Angola.

Translation: David Silberstein