The Brazilians are coming!

Today, only 0.1 percent of Brazilian exports go to Poland. Among Brazil's trade partners, Poland sits far down on the list—in 68th place. In his perspective the only way is up. Mr. Furlan would like to see trade with Poland increase to 1 percent over the next four years. Brazil sees Poland as the business hub for the Eastern part of the EU and an important stepping off point to other Eastern European markets not in the EU. From the Brazilian perspective the business opportunities lie in both directions, as Brazil has over 1 million people of either first or second generation Poles. To take the trade issue forward, Brazilian Export Promotion Agency APEX signed an agreement with EFICOM, a Polish consulting company. The target is to analyze by January 2005 the demand for Brazilian products in Poland and the opportunities for Brazilian companies in the new EU countries. "I know very little about Poland and Polish people know very little about Brazil," said Mr Furlan. He aims to remedy that.(A.T.)