>>Good morning an welcome to Global Perspectives.

I'm David Dumke.

Today we're joined by Ambassador João Lucas Quental of Brazil the Consul General in Orlando.

Thank you for joining us, Ambassador.

>>Well, thank you for inviting us.

I'm very happy to be here.

>>So before we started, I want to ask a question, first of all, about being in Orlando and having having a diplomatic post here.

You you're telling your different experience in Orlando before you came here as a Consul General?

>>Yeah, I've been her a couple of times as a tourist.

First time actually was around 12 years old.

So I had this view of Orlando as basically the theme parks, the shopping centers and the highways.

But after moving here, I'm really impressed, you know with the diversity of the city, the food scene, the culture scene.

And, you know, it's a very beautiful city.

It's not you know, it's so-called "The City Beautiful."

And it's true.

I mean, the beautiful lakes and the parks.

So I'm really happy to be here.

>>It's a very international city.

And I know one of one of your jobs as consul general, we'll talk about that a little in a second.

Is is obviously representing the Brazilian people who are in Orlando and there's a sizable Brazilian population.

Tell us a littl about the Brazilian population in central Florida and Florida generally.

>>Yeah, that's correct.

We estimate that around 2 million Brazilians live in the U.S., in Florida, about 400,000.

And here in central Florida with the hub in Orlando, around 180,000.

And it's probably the fastest growing Brazilian community in the U.S. right now.

Some estimates say there are about 70% of Brazilians that move to the U.S. right now choose Florida.

And of those 70%, more than half come here to central Florida.

So it's, you know, a ver dynamic and vibrant community.

The recent arrivals most arrived less than ten years ago, and a large proportion, 20, 30% after the pandemic.

And so they're still getting settled, but they already are investing in businesses, providing jobs and paying taxes.

So in general, I think that the local governments very much appreciate the Brazilian communities here and in central Florida.

>>What are some of the economic ties between Brazil and central Florida?

>>It's really not current knowledge, but, you know, Brazil is Florida's main international partner.

We are the main destination of Florida's exports, around $17 billio exported by Florida to Brazil, compared to around $5 billion that we export to Florida.

And central Florida is one of the main gateways to Florida.

We have Tampa, Tampa Bay.

We have sports, the airport here in Orlando.

So it's a major hub for Brazilian imports into Florida and Florida's exports to Brazil.

We are also one of the main foreign investors in Florida, among the top five, together with the U.K., France and Germany, many Brazilian companies have chosen Florida and especially central Florida as their platform in North America.

So you have, for instance, Embraer, Embraer, which is a major Brazilian aircraft manufacturer.

It's based in Melbourne, imports parts of planes into Florida and then exports planes all over the world, including to Brazil.

>>Wow.

So you being being part of part of Florida, what is your jurisdiction?

What is the goes into the job of being Consul-General in Orlando?

You've already explained the importance both economic and in terms of the Brazilian community here.

But what do you do on a day to day basis?

>>Well we have actually two consulates in Florida, in Miami, covering South Florida and ourselves.

We cover 50 counties, around 11 million people and 180,000 Brazilians.

Our day to day is very diverse.

We have, let's say, our public that we we respond to every day.

We have about 50 to 60 people that come to the consulate to get their passports renewed.

We issued birth certificates, power of attorney.

So, you know, al these are legal documents that a Brazilian may need living here in the U.S., but still with ties to to Brazil.

Of course we have the Brazilian tourist.

Brazil is the third largest foreig origin of tourist into Florida.

And when the high season in Brazil comes about, we always have tourists lose their passports.

They knock on our door requiring emergency help, of course.

And there are cases that of Brazilians which who may have lost their jobs and even their homes and need our help to go back to Brazil.

So we also support them.

So and of course, we also help Brazilian companies that want to invest or export to central Florida and American companies that may wish to invest in Brazil.

So it's a very diversified on a day to day basis.

So we never know what's coming.

>>Did you expect to be a consul general?

And in a place like this, I know your diplomatic career has taken you to a lot of posts, including working in U.N. and multilateral organizations.

You've worked in France and Switzerland and London, all over Central and South America.

This is a new kind of post for you.

>>Well, I've worked in consular sections of embassies.

If let's say, if an embassy in a country, we don't have a large Brazilian population will not have a specific consulate, we just have a consulate section.

So I had that experience in the past.

But coming here, of course, and having the consulate in Orlando, it's a big challenge, but I'm quite enjoying the experience.

>>Mr.

Ambassador, I want to talk a little about U.S. Brazilian relations.

But before I do, I want to talk about how Brazil sees itself in the world.

Brazil, you know, a lot of Americans perhaps overlook the fact that Brazil is the fifth largest country, land wise, in term - in the world and the sixth most populous in the world.

It's a powerful country.

Your economy has been growing significantly over the past few decades.

There's been talk of having Brazil as a permanent member of the Security Council at some point down the road, and that has being a South American superpower.

How does Brazil see itself?

>>Well, we are among the te largest economies in the world.

We're a middle income country with a large and diverse population.

We have a vibrant democracy.

And of course, with, you know, being a vibrant democracy, we're also very loud among ourselves.

We are a peaceful country.

We haven't been in a major conflict in over 150 years.

So we see ourselves as a country that can contribute to forging peaceful relations around the world with our neighbors.

We have helped in the past to intimidate local conflicts and further abroad.

We also wor within the multilateral system to try to provide, you know, peace and stability wherever we can.

We are a global trader.

We we are a major commodity producers and exporters.

So we export to virtually every country in the world.

We produce we'r the main producers of iron ore, sugar, coffee, soy, also a major oil exporter.

So we have a very out international outlook in our business community.

But also being a large country such as the U.S., we look a lot, a lot towards ourselves in politics and culture.

So it's a it's a country that I think because of actually where we are in the geographic map, we are not perhaps seen by many others, but also we don't really cause problems in our neighborhood or abroad.

>>Your trade relations, obviously, you've mentioned Brazil as a trading country, and I know your number one trading partner is China, but U.S. is also a very important trading partner.

How has Brazil managed those two relationships with the tension that emerges between the and really between any country?

I mean, the United States has always been a neighbor and a friend and ally, but you've gone your own way.

You have your own policies.

>>Well, that's correct.

I mean, the U.S. is Brazil's second largest market and first investor.

And China nowadays has become our main foreign market.

Basically, we export commodities, soy, iron ore and oil to China and import basic manufactured products.

We have a good relationship with China.

President Lula visited China earlier in his mandate, but he also visited the U.S.

So we believe, you know, it's not mutually exclusive to maintain good relationship with the U.S. and China.

So far we've been able to manage this.

And I think we can work together to to try to maintain this situation.

>>So talk a little about the US Brazilian relationships specifically.

Where where where is it right now compared to, say, five years ago, and where could it possibly be headed?

>>Actually this is a very special moment.

This year, a few days, actually, we celebrate 200 years of diplomatic ties between Brazil and the U.S. President Monroe, in 1824 recognized independence of Brazil.

Back then, we are a monarchy, one of the few monarchies in the western hemisphere.

Now, of course, we are a republic.

But over time, over these 200 years, we've had ups and downs.

But generally good relations with the U.S. at this particular moment.

We are in a very good point.

President Biden and Presiden Lula have met a couple of times since President Lula was elected only last year.

We have a number of high level meetings taking place.

Just last week, a senior officials meeting in in Washington where high level officials from Brazil came here to discuss several foreign policy issues such as international governance, environment, trade.

So overall I think we're in a good moment in our bilateral relations with a lot of potential to improve.

>>What areas do you see that can that are very strong?

What areas need improvement and what are some of the contentious issues?

>>Yeah, we've been cooperating strongly in areas such as labor relations, human rights, gender issues.

We have very similar views and similar challenges and we can learn from each other.

We have some cooperation initiatives with the U.S. in these areas, and it's progressing quite well.

We're happy with the way we're going, but like I mentioned, a lot of potential for improvement.

At this moment, I really can't say.

You know, there's no major hiccups or issues between us, between Brazil and the U.S., you know, trade relations are strong.

There are, of course, some you know, minor questions here and there involvin Brazilian exports into the U.S. probably, you know, the US government official would say the same thing.

Some issues involving Brazil, U.S. exports to Brazil or investments.

But overall, I think we're in a very good track and in a good moment in the bilateral ties.

>>One of the issues that has come up and some usually it's been an area of cooperation, but not always is, is the logging of the Amazon rainforest.

And obviously Brazil has a lot of of that rainforest.

And you've you've seen report I've seen reports recently that the logging has slowed down since President Lula took office.

How is international cooperation affect Brazil's decision to protect or not protect the rainforest?

>>I think ultimately it's, you know, in our own best interest to protect the Amazon forest.

You said, and that's correct, last year there was a 50% reduction in deforestation in the Amazon was a major accomplishment by the government.

We have a ambitious goal for, you know, carbon emission arriving at net zero by 2030.

And we can only do this by actually tackling deforestation.

We have to, you know, reduce and eventually stop deforestatio and replant a lot of the forest that has already been, you know, chopped out.

Also, you know, not only in the Amazon but in other areas of Brazil there are also some good news.

We have a large Atlantic forest near the shore that was also large reductio in deforestation in that area.

But, you know, there are, of course, major challenges and international cooperation is vital.

There are a number of international funds that support us in our fight against deforestation.

The U.S. has pledged to support these initiatives as well.

But we ar we are getting there, I think, in 2025, we're hosting the Conference of the Parties of the U.N.

Triple C in Berlin, and we hope to present not only the progress to date, but also call on our partners to help us achieve our longer term goals.

>>So in the area of climate change, more, more generally, obviously you know, Brazil has an economy and this is I could be saying this about the United States, too.

You have a very importan and powerful ranching industry.

Your cattle is a big product for Brazil.

You have Petrobras you have a major oil producer, but you also suffer from climate change.

You know, there were just recently floodings in the south that were quite severe.

There may have been more more harder, you know, more hard hitting because of climate change.

How does Brazil balance thes different competing interests?

Because you have real interests in growing your economy.

At the same time, climat change is an issue we all face.

>>The experts believe that it's possible to increase, let's say, agricultural production in Brazil without further deforestation simply by, you know, investing in productivity and using better land.

It's actually already used for agriculture.

So it's it's possible to and feasible to do both things, protect the Amazon and increase food production.

For instance, Brazil has about 70% of our energy matrix is renewable hydropower, wind power, solar power.

Our main challenge is really to control deforestation.

And as I mentioned, I think we're getting there.

The the agriculture sector is key to Brazil.

Some of our mai exports come from that sector.

So we have to find a way really to to be able to produce with more efficiency, higher productivity and in a sustainable manner.

Many many of the most modern sectors of the agro business are doing that right now.

But much has to be done, more investment and raising the standards of production.

So that in the future we can increase production really without deforestation or without affecting the environment.

>>How is Brazil's economy doing overall at this point?

I know President Lula, when he was running for election, made economic reforms a key component.

And there has been talks about tax reforms and you're talking about trade and all these all these other elements.

Where does the economy stand today and how are things looking?

>>Well, we have been underestimated in the last few years.

Economic forecasters have been predicting stagnation or very slow growth.

And we've been able to i the last three years at least, outdo what the market has thought.

So this is our fourth year of strong economic growth.

Last year, for instance, the market expected us to have maybe .5% growth and we reached 3%.

This year started out in a similar vein.

The market was talking about 1% growth maybe, and now they are already talking about 2.5 even more.

At the same time, we are in a good place in inflation.

Inflation has been going down over the last three years.

It's within the range that the central bank establishes.

Interest rates are still a bit high because we had we are exactly in that phase.

You know, we had to raise interest rates to control inflation.

Now it's going down, but they're still a bit high.

Unemployment is at record lows since 2013.

We haven't had, you know, such a large number of Brazilians employed.

There are some concerns by the markets about fiscal policy, but in general, we are in a similar situation as our peer countries, other emerging markets.

So we we we do know there are some measures that need to be taken to better control government spending, but the government is taking those measures over time.

There's just you know we're not rushing and trying to apply budget constraints right now because that would affect employment and the economy.

But over the three years, of course, we expect the situation als to be more or less controlled.

>>So with the stable economy, obviously, that's that's critical for for for planning the region in which Brazil was in and South America and going into beyond into broader Latin America hasn't always been stable politically or economically.

How much of the focus of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry and Brazil's efforts is on creating a more conducive stable regional environment?

>>Well, I mean, we, of course dedicate a lot of attention to to our neighbors, we generally have good relation with our neighboring countries.

We are part of a free trade area together with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in the Mercosur.

We also have free trade agreements with most most of our neighboring countries.

In the last few years, we've had, you know, ups and downs in the region as much as we can.

We tried to support our neighboring countries.

One of the key factors for us is upholding democracy.

And we were very keen on supporting the democratic countries in our regio and maintaining good relations with the whole of the region, but focusing on on key democratic countries.

>>Has has the United States been a good partner in efforts to stabilize the region?

Or, and I ask this as an American who has been critical of some of our foreign policy moves, or have we ignored South America to a certain extent?

>>Well, I think that, you know, in general, we have converging views regarding most issues in the region.

The, the US also ha a high priority in maintaining and promoting democratic values in the region stability, sustainable development.

And those are issues which we agree with.

But of course, each country has its own national priorities in foreign policy.

We are, in general a peaceful region.

So we tend to be away from the major international headlines, which is good.

And I think that the US tends to focus often on those headlines.

>>Sure, absolutely.

So do you do see Brazil as as you know, you've been talking throughout our interview about Brazil's role as kind of a moderating force in the world.

Is that going is that do you see Brazil as a leader, a world leader in your policies of kind of trying to bring people together?

Or do you think Brazil needs to do more things to kind of step up and take a leadership role?

>>I think we can always do more.

But at this point, Brazil, you know, I think it's we're recognized as an emerging market with a lot of potential, both economically and diplomatically.

President Lula is is a international figure, is well known throughout the world, has a good relationshi to major international leaders.

So in general I think we're in a good place.

We can certainly be more proactive in certain issues.

But, you know, things are evolving o on the right track I would say.

>>We return to the last few minutes here to relations with the US.

Specifically, I want to talk about an area kind of and soft power, if you will.

Cultural influence.

Where do you see Brazilian cultural culture in the US and what do you d as a consul general to promote Brazilian culture?

>>Well, depending on where you are in the US, of course, Brazilian culture can be very, very visible.

Here in Florida, for instance, is a major cultural fest.

Brazilian music, Brazilian dance have become part and parcel of, you know, city's cultural agenda as cultural promotion.

We just had, for instance, here in central Florida, in Tampa this weekend, a large Brazilian music festival which attracted maybe 5,000 people.

And everywhere we go in this region, you will see, you know, Brazilian music festivals, Brazilian Brazilian cultural initiatives.

So it's very present here.

Of course if you go to the Midwest where there may not be such a large Brazilian community, that won't be so much the case.

But here in Florida, and especially here in central Florida, Brazilian culture is is very visible and probably will tend to increase as as as you know, the head of the Brazilian consulate here in Orlando.

I try to support as much as I can these initiatives, especially, you know, initiatives by small and medium sized entrepreneurs.

Of course the main, you know, initiatives that have already a lot of a lot of financial support, they don't need our help from the consulate.

So we try to support initiatives that are not as much as mainstream, let's say so was at it would see in these major fairs.

>>How do you promote Brazilian economic relations, for example?

>>Mm hmm.

Well, again, if you're a big company in Brazil, most likely won't look for the Brazilian consulate for support.

You have government ministries and state banks, the export agency.

So we try to focus on the small and medium business that either want to export to this region or want to open or say a subsidiary here we offer them, you know, advice, counseling, information.

We support them to get in touch with the local authorities, often a county or cit may have a project or a program which supports foreign investmen or supports certain industries and is normally a small and medium sized company, won't know that beforehand.

So we try to facilitate these contacts and provide information and actually seen a lot of Brazilian small businesses interested in setting up shop here in central Florida.

Startups in the IT sector.

Small, you know, exporters of agricultural products that want to be here as well.

Not only the large companies, those are coming and many are here already, but small and medium sized businesses.

>>Well, Mr.

Ambassador, we just just have a minute left, and I know you've.

I really appreciate your time and educating us about U.S. Brazilian relation and what's going on in Brazil.

If you wanted people to remember three things about Brazil.

Well, what would they be?

I would think that, you know, remembering that Brazil is this vibrant democracy and a growing economy and a great destination for for tourists right now, for the next year at least, Americans will not need a visa to go to Brazil.

So they should hurry and visit Brazil and get to know the country directly.

>>Mr.

Ambassador, thank you so much for joining us today.

>>Thank you very much.

>>And thank you for joining us.

We'll see you again next week on another episode of Global Perspectives.