Focus on Brazil: an economy to watch

Over the next decade, Brazil, Russia, India and China – the ‘BRICs’ countries – are set to become an increasingly powerful force in the world economy. Together they contribute over a third of world GDP growth, and Brazil – the largest country in South America and the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world – will soon replace the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy.

Brazil is indeed in a strong position at the moment. As 2011 dawned, it swore into office its first ever woman President, Dilma Rousseff, who replaced the man who had become the most popular president in the country’s history, Luiz Ignacio Lula de Silva. Big shoes to fill, certainly, but having served within Silva’s government for seven years, Rousseff is keen to consolidate the work of her predecessor and welcome in a new era for Brazil; the eradication of poverty and reduction of inequality being two major challenges.

Rousseff’s drive to tackle poverty may well be helped by Brazil’s potential as a major global oil producer. Recently-discovered offshore oilfields such as Tupi and Libra have provided billions of barrels of oil over the last few years, their discoveries making Brazil one of the world’s top 10 oil producers. Future oil revenues will be valuable in funding the reduction of poverty as well as investing in areas such as education and technology.

President Rousseff’s term in government will also see Brazil host the Rio Plus 20 global environmental summit, in 2012, and the FIFA World Cup in 2014.

Those wanting to make the most of Brazil’s huge potential by doing business here may consider language training in Brazilian Portuguese, which can be critical to establishing relationships and to future success in this fast-developing country.

On a similar vein, cultural training is helpful for employees who are looking to relocate to, or spend a prolonged period of time in, Brazil; not only does cultural training help to prevent culture shock, it can give a valuable insight into your target destination’s core values, local business practice, hierarchies and gender perceptions within the workplace, how to address your counterparts and more. Like language training, it can give you a step ahead of your competitors when it comes to integrating into and understanding Brazilian life.

Cactus Language Training offers all types of language and cultural training for relocation and other purposes. Specialising in tailor-made language training for businesses and individual needs, training is available in many different formats and in languages and locations across the globe.

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