Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he would make the country one of the top 50 nations worldwide in which to do business.
ADVERTISEMENTBrazilian President Jair Bolsonaro sold his nation as an opportunity in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, vowing that he would make the country one of the top 50 nations worldwide in which to do business.
Bolsonaro used his address at the annual meeting of world business leaders to assure investors that Brazil is a changed country, where it is safer to do business since he took charge three weeks ago.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain, swept to victory in elections last year with pledges to tackle corruption, crime and economic mismanagement.
Bolsonaro said he wanted to use his address in Davos to introduce business leaders to the "new Brazil" he was building.
"Currently, we all need each other and Brazil needs you. And of course, the same is true the other way round in that the business community also needs Brazil to a large extent," he told the audience in Davos.
"This is the first international meeting I make since I was elected, and it bears evidence of just how much importance I attach to the agendas that have been promoted and prioritised by the World Economic Forum."
Brazil is part of the BRICS group of major emerging economies, along with Russia, India, China and South Africa.
In his speech, Bolsonaro said he would work to open up Brazil's relatively closed economy.
He also pledged to reduce and simplify taxes, privatise assets and give the new justice minister the tools to tackle corruption.
"We will pursue efforts to better integrate Brazil into the world", he said.
He added that he would do this by "eliminating unfair trade practices while guaranteeing legal certainty to our foreign trade flows. We will also restore our values and open up our economy. We will defend family principles and true human rights; we will protect the right to life and to private property; and promote an educational system that will prepare our young people to rise to the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution".
"We want to deepen not only our friendship ties, but also our trade relations", he said.
You can watch the speech in full in the player above.