Obama’s Trip to Brazil Has Economic, Political and Social Focus

The advisers that are preparing for the U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Brazil’s capital of Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro affirm that the trip has three focuses: economic, political and social. The economic one is motivated by Brazilian growth, creating possibilities for partnership and cooperation. The political focus is motivated by the country’s role in Latin America. The issues Brazil and the United States have in common draw the two peoples together and inspire a social focus to the trip.

The president is visiting Brazil with a retinue of close to a thousand people, including advisers, security, entrepreneurs and a support team. Obama is even bringing his wife, Michelle, his 10-year-old daughter, Malia, and his 7-year-old, Sasha. While the president has responsibilities with work, the first lady and the kids will have a different agenda, including strolls in the Botanic Garden and visiting Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

Officially, the White House Press Secretary, Jay Carney, confirmed that Obama, on his first visit to the Latin America countries of Brazil, Chile and El Salvador, is going to talk about a great variety of matters. The list includes economic issues, job creation through intensification of commerce and partnerships, cooperation in the areas of energy and security, shared values, and other matters of regional and world importance.

In Brasilia, a list of 15 to 20 agreements that will be signed by Obama and President Dilma Rousseff are being worked out. The documents are in the final phase. Some are considered uncontroversial, like the ones that deal with partnerships in the areas of combating gender and race discrimination. However, the economic matters create differences, sometimes of a technical or juridical sort.

On two different occasions in Brasilia, Obama will meet with entrepreneurs. The initiative demonstrates the importance that the sector has for the United States, which is passing through a delicate moment in its economy. To begin, the president will participate in the closing of a forum of entrepreneurs organized by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).

Right after, Obama will speak to close to 400 entrepreneurs who form the Brazil-United States Business Summit, organized by the National Confederation of Industry and by the American Chamber of Commerce.

In summary, from the use of renewable energy like ethanol, to opportunities for investment in Brazil’s infrastructure, the objective is to unite the private and public initiatives. The issues complete an agreement, to be signed by Obama and Dilma on this visit, for the formalization of partnerships to help prepare for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics Games, which are both being held in Brazil.

For lunch at the Itamaraty Palace, where 250 guests are expected, President Dilma wants to bring together not only Brazilian and North American government officials, but also elected representatives, entrepreneurs, unionists and civil society representatives.

Like the speeches that he gave for big audiences in Berlin in 2008 and in Cairo in 2009, Obama will speak to Brazilian society, with a giant screen with subtitles in Portuguese to his right. It will be in Cinelândia, in the center of Rio. The Obama family, in Rio, will have free time in the morning and at night. Between engagements, there will be a visit to the community, City of God, which inspired a film in 2002 about the advance of organized crime, and a stroll on a beach yet to be determined.