‘It was not the best decision’, says vice-president about IPI reduction during the opening of the event in Manaus

Priscilla Peixoto and Eduardo Figueiredo – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – “I think this IPI reduction, here, was not the best decision we could have taken”. The statement is from the Vice-President of the Republic Hamilton Mourão when referring to the federal government’s attacks that, through decrees, reduced the Tax on Industrialized Products in the Manaus Free Trade Zone (MFTz).

The speech was made during the opening of ExpoAmazônia Bio&Tic on the afternoon of Thursday, 30, at the Vasco Vasques Convention Center, Centro-Sul Zone of Manaus, where the general highlighted that the subject can be taken up again. “It is a subject that can still be studied and obviously that over time some of these activities will no longer have the exemption, but not at the present moment in which we are living”, he said, adding that the return of the MFTz is positive.

“It is obvious that every time we make a tax waiver, and the tax exemption is a tax waiver, it has to give a return. I believe that the return that is given here by the Manaus Free Trade Zone is a positive return, because it generates around 100,000 direct jobs here in the Amazon”, he said.

Evolution

During the solemnity, the vice-president also highlighted that throughout its 55 years of existence the Manaus Free Trade Zone has gone through several adaptations and continues to evolve.

“The Free Trade Zone is now 55 years old. It has been adapting itself, it came as a model that was merely a commercial warehouse. People who lived in the Center-South of the country and wanted to acquire goods at a better price, I will put here goods that, today, you should only see in museums, such as VCRs, two-headed tape recorders, these things that used to exist. So, people would come here to buy these things, and it has really evolved into an Industrial District and is evolving, there, in the issue of agriculture and cattle-raising. So, the Free Trade Zone has been reinventing itself over time”, declares the general.

The event

Held by the Association of Digital Pole of Manaus (APDM), the Amazon Biotechnology Center (CBA), the Secretariat of Economic Development, Science, Technology and Innovation of the State (Sedecti-AM) and the Institute for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon (Idesam), the event takes place until July 2.

The goal is to promote greater integration between sustainable and digital poles in the Amazon, in order to expand the insertion of these segments in regional socioeconomic development, with a view, among other objectives, to expand the supply of quality jobs and social return, with increased quality of life and other direct benefits.

In all, ExpoAmazônia will have more than 60 booths, 100 startups, the Amazon Market (for the commercialization of typically regional products), 30 creative economy artisans, a main stage with renowned authorities, three lecture rooms with varied programming throughout the event, a hackathon (programming marathon with technology developers) and a coding battle arena, as well as a kids arena for children and a food area.

Admission is free, with registration only required through the official website (expoamazonia.com).