The U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 001231 SIPDIS STATE PASS USTR:MSULLIVAN DOE FOR GWARD/SLADISLAW NSC FOR FEARS USDOC FOR 3134/USFCS/OIO/WH/SHUPKA USDOC FOR 4332/ITA/MAC/WH/OLAC/JANDERSEN/ADRISCOLL/MWAR D STATE PASS OPIC FOR MORONESE, RIVERA, MERVENNE STATE PASS EXIM FOR NATALIE WEISS, COCONNER STATE PASS USTDA FOR AMCKINNEY TREASURY FOR OASIA:DDOUGLASS AID/W FOR LAC/AA SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD ECON KIPR EINV ENRG BEXP BR SUBJECT: The U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue ¶1. (SBU) Summary. On June 6 in Rio de Janeiro, Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez and Minister of Development, Industry and Trade Furlan launched the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue. The Dialogue was launched as a follow up on commitments made in the Joint Declaration issued on the occasion of President George W. Bush's visit to Brazil in November 2005. Four working groups covering business facilitation, standards cooperation, intellectual property rights cooperation and export and investment promotion met and agreed upon a series of initiatives designed to enhance our bilateral commercial relationship by increasing trade, investment and competitiveness. Details of the agreements are provided below. The working group meetings were followed by a reporting session where working group leads detailed the results and next steps. It was agreed that each working group would complete a report detailing achievements by the end of August, in anticipation of a second Commercial Dialogue tentatively scheduled for Washington, D.C. in September. End Summary. -------------- -------------- U.S. Brazil Commercial Dialogue - Plenary Session -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Both the Secretary and Minister used the plenary session to introduce their respective teams, discuss the importance of the Dialogue, note the need for ambitious and concrete results and reemphasize the significance that both Presidents' placed on the upcoming discussion. It was agreed that four(4) working groups would be established - business facilitation, standards cooperation, intellectual property rights cooperation and export and investment promotion. They noted that this was the beginning stage of an ongoing process and that they both hoped it would lead to results that would significantly increase our $40 billion bilateral trade. Working group leads and their teams were instructed to conduct their sessions, and to report back at the end of each hour-long meeting. In the interim, Secretary Gutierrez and Minister Furlan held a concurrent bilateral meeting (see Septel). -------------- Business Facilitation -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Chaired by Commerce Assistant Secretary for Market Access and Compliance David Bohigian and Mauricio Lucena Do Val, Director of Trade and Services Policy (SCS). The USG extended an invitation to a working level commercial dialogue meeting in the United States focused on the theme of "Moving Goods Efficiently: Opportunities and Challenges," a public/private sector event designed to highlight the competitive advantage of moving goods quickly and efficiently across borders. A/S Bohigian noted that in order to be effective the working level visits needed to include both MDIC and Receita Federal. MDIC noted for the record its interest but also its inability to involve other agencies in the discussions. Instead, MDIC requested an exchange of detailed information on express shipments. MDIC raised similar concerns when A/S Bohigian proposed collaboration on an Information Exchange Forum (IEF) on Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Regulations. MDIC indicated that medical devices were outside its competency and fell within ANVISA's jurisdiction. A/S Bohigian responded that he would raise the issue of involving other key agencies in the Dialogue to Secretary Gutierrez and Minister Furlan during the reporting session. ¶4. (SBU) MDIC noted its interest in the area of business registrations and asked for detailed information pertaining to BRASILIA 00001231 002 OF 003 registrations in each of its 5 largest U.S. state export markets. (Minister Furlan had earlier emphasized his goal of cutting the time it took to establish a business in Brazil from 157 days to 15.) A/S Bohigian noted that business registrations are a state (and not a federal) issue in the U.S. He presented MDIC with an informational report detailing business registration regulations and practices in several U.S. states, and offered the Commerce Department as a liaison between MDIC and relevant state officials. Regional Director Angulo noted that TDA could organize technical visits for MDIC technicians to visit two or three states in the United States to learn about business registration processes and other areas of interest covered during this breakout session. -------------- Export and Investment Promotion -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Chaired by John Harris, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs and Fabio Martins Faria-Relator, Director of the Department of Planning Development of Foreign Trade (DEPLA). In the area of export promotion, it was agreed that Commerce and APEX (the Brazilian Export and Investments Promotion Agency) would draft a plan to jointly recruit trade shows (after the August meeting with MATSO). In addition, several videoconferences were agreed to for the purpose of exchanging information on OPIC, USTDA, BNDES and APEX services. Finally, DOC and MDIC agreed to an exchange of information and experiences on methods used in the collection, classification and distribution of statistical data on international trade in services. The U.S. will exchange information on statistical methodologies to track cross border movements of services professionals and trade in services. -------------- Intellectual Property Protection -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Chaired by Stephen Pinkos, Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Roberto Jaguaribe, President of the National Institute of Intellectual Property Rights (INPI). INPI and PTO agreed to move forward on technical cooperation to meet the approaching September deadline for the second U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue. PTO and INPI further agreed that technical assistance on information technology would be a second key area of assistance in which PTO and INPI would begin their cooperation. In terms of technology and automation, it was tentatively agreed that INPI representatives involved in IT, including the Brazilian government agency SERPRO, would travel to PTO in August 2006 for one week, to receive training on trademark automation, one day of which would focus on patent automation. INPI also stated its interest in having PTO examiners in the field of electrical engineering, biotechnology, and chemical arts visit INPI for 1-2 weeks and share their expertise. No firm date was set for training of examiners. ¶7. (SBU) INPI also expressed interest in obtaining PTO training materials on DVD or CD-ROM. PTO promised to follow-up to see if PTO has such multi-media training materials available and whether PTO could distribute them to INPI. Finally, INPI officials stated that they would be interested in visiting the U.S. to observe how the trademark and patent appeals process functions. No date was set on this cooperation. -------------- Standards BRASILIA 00001231 003 OF 003 -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Chaired by Dr. Hratch Semerjian, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Prof. Joao Herz da Jornada, President INMETRO. NIST and INMETRO agreed upon a six-point program designed to promote innovation and growth. First, they will establish a Digital Video Conference (DVC) series to promote better understanding of the standards, conformity assessment and technical regulation systems in place in each country, in collaboration with other government agencies, ABNT (Brazil) and ANSI (U.S.),and other private sector organizations. This DVC series would be lead by ITA's Office of Standards. Second, they will establish a collaborative program on Metrology and Standards for Biofuels. Third, NIST will organize training workshops in chemical and materials metrology to help strengthen the INMETRO programs in these areas. Fourth, a new INMETRO/NIST Metrology Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program will be established, starting in the second quarter of 2007. New Ph.Ds from Brazil will spend 1.5 years at NIST and then 1.5 years at INMETRO to promote sharing of experience in measurement science between the two institutions. Fifth, INMETRO and NIST will schedule a bilateral workshop in early 2007 in the U.S., to identify and initiate collaborative activities in measurement standards and technology in high-priority areas. Finally, they agreed to develop an exchange program to share best practices in management of S&T programs that impact innovation and competitiveness. -------------- Reporting Session -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The work group meetings were followed by a short reporting session, where a representative (two U.S. and two Brazilian) from each of the four work groups presented the results to Secretary Gutierrez and Minister Furlan. The group spokesperson delineated the results as noted in paragraphs 2 through 8 above. AS Bohigian observed that it would be critical to the business facilitation process that MDIC include other relevant entities in the discussion, particularly Receita Federal and ANVISA. Both Secretary Gutierrez and Minister Furlan agreed that the Dialogue SIPDIS needed to involve all relevant agencies. ¶10. (SBU) Minister Furlan requested that a second plenary session take place in Washington, D.C. in September (date TBD). Secretary Gutierrez agreed, and both concluded that each working group would need to complete a report of key achievements by the end of August in order to ensure that the September meeting was a success. They both also stated that the September meeting, in addition to dealing with agreed upon issues, should also work to set an ambitious overall goal for the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue to give the effort an overall meaningful objective and to ensure its relevance. CHICOLA