Moving Forward the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue

UNCLAS BRASILIA 001857 SIPDIS STATE PASS USTR:SCRONIN/MSULLIVAN 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 AID/W FOR LAC/AA SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD ECON EINV BEXP BR SUBJECT: Moving Forward the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue ¶1. Action Request - paragraph 2. ¶2. (SBU) On September 1, Marcela Carvalho, the Commercial Dialogue Coordinator for the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Commerce (MDIC),met with Econ Counselor to report on the Ministry's internal meeting on Dialogue issues earlier in the week. Carvalho raised a number of items, several of which (i.e., dates for the next Commercial Dialogue meeting, discussion of industrial aspects meat production chain, exchanges on franchising, and cooperation on statistics) require guidance from Washington: -- Receita Federal participation. Carvalho showed Emboff a signed letter from Finance Minister Mantega (who oversees Receita Federal) committing Receita Federal to participate in the Commercial Dialogue (and specifically any upcoming Dialogue meeting in Washington along with the planned "express delivery" visit to Memphis). -- Requested Dates for the next Dialogue Meeting. Carvalho reiterated previous entreaties on the part of MDIC International Affairs Advisor Andreucci that the USDOC confirm a date (October 12-13 of 16-17) for the Ministry's requested meeting between Secretary Gutierrez and Furlan in Washington. (Per separate SIPDIS conversations with Andreucci, the GOB needs confirmation of the meeting date, inter alia, so that it can go about reserving scarce end of fiscal year travel money for Dialogue participants.) -- The Meat Production Chain. Instead of discussing the meat production chain at the working level - as was done at the August 17 DVC - Carvalho proposed that it be dealt with in any principal to principal conversation between Minister Furlan and Secretary Gutierrez. She explained that Furlan did not want to discuss the sanitary aspects of the meat production chain, but industrial considerations instead. However, prior to any conversation on this issue between the two ministers, the GOB would provide a non-paper better specifying its concerns. At some point, the Brazilians would welcome a technical visit by USG experts to further advance such an exchange. Comment. We see this new GOB position as a diplomatic way to prevent meat from diverting working level discussions while still allowing Minister Furlan to express his concerns. End Comment. -- ANVISA Participation. MDIC is actively seeking to get ANVISA (Brazil's FDA-equivalent) to participate in the Commercial Dialogue, but so far has not received a positive response. The week of September 4 Andreucci will meet with the President of ANVISA to follow-up on MDIC's request. Carvalho promised to provide Acting SCO with a readout of that meeting. -- Travel of GOB Working Group Coordinators to WashDC. Carvalho said that Brazil had postponed the travel of its Dialogue Working Group Coordinators (plus Carvalho and the Ministry's investment staffer) from September 21-22 to September 25-26. -- Franchising. Pursuant to the decision of the Ministry's internal meeting on the Dialogue earlier in the week, Carvalho formally proposed that the U.S. and Brazil add franchising to the agenda, placing this issue within the export promotion/investment working group. Brazil proposed sending a group of franchising entrepreneurs to Washington in November 2006 (led by MDIC official Anali Franzmann) to meet with U.S. counterparts. In these sessions, it was contemplated that both sides would explain their respective regulations governing franchising. Thereafter, Carvalho continued, a U.S. delegation could visit Brazil in June to attend the country's yearly franchising exposition and possibly the franchising national convention that same month. -- Statistics. In the wake of the August 17 DVC and the visit of USDOC DAS Ana Guevara, Carvalho requested that the U.S. formally agree to transfering the issue of service statistics from the Export Promotion Working Group to the Business Facilitation Working Group. In addition, following up on suggestions made during the Ambassador's introductory August 8 call on Minister Furlan, Carvalho proposed that the U.S. and Brazil look at ways to harmonize statistics on the trade of goods. -- Training of Consulate Sao Paulo Personnel. Carvalho stated that MDIC had scheduled training of Consulate Sao Paulo personnel in Brazilian trade tools (SISCOMEX, ALICE data base, "Radar Comercial," etc.) for September 13. CHICOLA