Feira de Santana (BA), September 12, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Today, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inaugurated the new Pirelli tire factory in Feira de Santana, in the interior of the state of Bahia. The Ministers of Labor, Jaques Wagner, Education, Cristovam Buarque, Environment, Marina Silva, and Sports, Agnelo Queiroz, were part of the Presidential committee.

The company's immediate goal is for the plant to produce 2,500 radial tires per day. For the director of the company in Brazil, Giorgio della Seta, the plan is for the factory to produce 7,500 tires per day by 2005. "We invested US$ 120 million in the new factory in the initial phase," he declared.

President Lula will end his trip to Feira de Santana with a visit to the Minors' Farm, where a complete infrastructure was set up to take care of 900 children and adolescents who wandered in the streets of the region. In the Farm project, the children learn to plant and make bricks, as well as practicing other activities, such as sports.

Minister Agnelo Queiroz explained that his Ministry is making a big contribution to the development of the project, since part of the sports equipment manufactured in the region's prison, where balls are made, is transferred to a small factory on the farm where the balls are sewn by women who live in the community. "This is the Painting Citizenship (Aspiring Citizenship) project," the Minister underlined. (DAS)