AUDI BUSINESS TRIP racks up positive balance for Brazil and Germany

The Audi Business Trip, an event organized by LIDE – Grupo de Lideres Empresariais (Group of Business Leaders) from November 14th to 20th in Berlin and Munich, has held fruitful gatherings to bring about closer relations between Brazil and Germany. The high point of the event, which was endowed with master sponsorship by Audi, was the meeting between Brazilian executives and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Chancellor Merkel asked the businessmen for investments in Portugal and Spain, to provide assistance in Europe’s economic crisis. “We want to work with Germany and continue relations with Portugal and Spain,” responded Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer, pointing out that there are more than 1,200 German companies doing business in Brazil, and that reciprocal trade and investments are increasing.

Temer joined the committee led by Luiz Fernando Furlan, Brazil’s former Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, and President of LIDE INTERNACIONAL; which is made up of Joao Doria Jr., world President of LIDE; Leandro Radomile, President of Audi; Marcelo Lyra, Vice President of Braskem; Jackson Schneider, President of Embraer; Mario Anseloni, President of Itautec; and Jose Seripieri Jr, President of Qualicorp. The group also met with German President, Joachim Gauck, and the President of Parliament, Norbert Lammert.

As the owner of the cleanest energy grid in the industrialized world, Brazil was praised by the Chancellor during the encounter. Today, only 20% of German energy is renewable, from wind-power sources and solar panels.

As part of the Audi Business Trip, the 25 Brazilian CEOs also took part in a luncheon with German businessmen at the headquarters of BDI, the German Confederation of Industry, in Berlin. On this occasion, the tax burden, as well as bureaucracy involved in moving forward with infrastructure projects, were on the agenda for discussion. “Brazil, in addition to being a country where the world’s companies want to be and have to be, continues to keep its doors open for investment by partners, particularly those who are in search of solutions,” noted Vice President Temer.

During the event, the group also visited the headquarters of Audi in Ingolstadt, one of the most modern automotive centers in the world, and the company’s largest production facility, manufacturing 650,000 vehicles annually such as the Audi A3, Audi A4, Audi A5 and Audi Q5.