Brazil is a major machine tool export destination, holding ninth place in the export ranking and with good growth prospects for the next few years in both this sector and its major user sectors like the aeronautics, automotive and steel industries, which were also involved in the trade mission.

The Basque President was accompanied on the visit to Brazil by the Regional Minister for Industry, Innovation, Trade and Tourism, Bernabé Unda, and several deputy regional ministers from this department; the President of the Basque Chambers of Commerce, José María Echarri; the Vice-president of Confebask, Iñaki López; the Managing Director of the Machine Tool Cluster AFM, Xabier Ortueta; and the managers of other clusters such as Hegan or Acicae. A further 125 Basque company executives also formed part of the business mission, accompanying the Government members on several of the encounters and visits programmed during the four days of the official event. As a result of the interesting contacts made, a further mission is also being planned to take place before the year end.

The event included visits to the plants belonging to the companies CIE AUTOMOTIVE and CAF in Brazil, and to Embraer, the world’s third largest aeronautics company, Thyssen and General Motors. The Basque President also held a private meeting with the Brazilian President Lula da Silva, with several Government ministers responsible for the sectors of most economic importance for the Basque Country and with the President of the Gerdau Group, Sidenor’s main shareholder.

The mission also served as a useful pretext for inviting the Brazilian businessmen to the Machine Tool Biennial, organised jointly by BEC and AFM and which will be held in Bilbao from 31 May to 5 June 2010.