Wilson Lima invites businessmen to invest in the Amazon and becomes protagonist in sustainable development

From Cenarium Magazine*

The governor of Amazonas, Wilson Lima, participated in the LIDE Brazil Investment Forum in New York (USA) this Tuesday (05/09). In the event, he highlighted that it is impossible to preserve the forest without taking care of the people who live in it. He invited the businessmen who participated in the event to invest in the Amazon and become protagonists of sustainable development.

The governor participated in the panel “Challenges of the Great Reforms and the Attractiveness of Brazil for New International Investments”. The event is organized by LIDE, a group that brings together business leaders from various sectors with revenues equal to or greater than R$ 200 million per year. The forum was attended by 250 Brazilian businessmen, investors, bankers and journalists.

“The world today talks about the Amazon and if you ask any citizen on the planet if he knows the Amazon, he would answer yes, and if you ask him if he is interested in preserving it, he would say yes. But the big problem is that people only know the Amazon from an aerial view, from the treetops, and do not know its true roots, which is its population. And there lies the problem, because there is no way you can preserve the Amazon, there is no way you can protect this heritage of humanity if you do not protect people first”, warned Governor Wilson Lima in his speech.

Good reputation

In his speech, Wilson Lima highlighted that the industries of the Free Trade Zone of Manaus, by generating a considerable volume of jobs, reduce the pressure on the forest and, consequently, play a fundamental role in keeping 97% of the natural cover preserved.

The governor caught the attention of event participants by highlighting that Amazonas – the largest Brazilian state – is home to a variety of opportunities with high potential for economic returns and a good reputation for investors.

Amazonas is in a strategic location. The northernmost Brazilian state in the country is close to major consumption centers in the United States, Central America and the Caribbean and South America. Eduardo Gomes International Airport and public and private ports in Manaus move cargo with inputs and finished products with national and international origin and destinations.

Wilson Lima stressed that the 500 companies installed in the Manaus Free Trade Zone – which have state and federal tax incentives – earned more than 34 billion dollars a year. The Industrial Pole of Manaus is the Brazilian leader in the production of televisions, smartphones and motorcycles and the world’s second largest producer of air conditioners.

“The safest and most interesting way to preserve our environmental assets is to strengthen the economic models that already work in these regions. In the state of Amazonas, we have specifically the Manaus Free Trade Zone, which represents something around 70% of our economic activity. It is the most successful model in the Amazon for economic and social development and environmental protection”, highlighted the governor of Amazonas.

Sustainability

The Amazon has the potential to receive industries that use raw materials from the local biodiversity in areas of biopharmaceuticals, biocosmetics and phytotherapy. In addition to the use of sustainable non-timber forest products such as rubber, brazilian nuts, açaí and buriti.

The State has 809.6 million tons of equivalent carbon credits already available for trading. The funding potential is up to R$ 2.4 billion. And it also joined the Race To Zero, UN campaign to zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

The State Government is already working to start the concession of eight public forests as a sustainable economic alternative, balancing environmental conservation, respect for forest cycles and local income generation. The States expects to finish the studies and open for the concession, later this year, the first of them: Maués State Forest.

Amazonas has national and international agreements to support sustainable development, such as the Forest Fund of the German bank, KFW. To curb deforestation, Amazonas has invested in the Rural Environmental Registration of Real Estate.

“If someone says: ‘Governor, I am interested in protecting the Amazon’, let’s protect it, let’s build a Forest School, let’s provide the minimum conditions for those who live in the forest to survive: drinking water, energy, communication, because if we not protecting those who live in the forest, there is no way for us to protect our environmental assets”, concluded Wilson Lima, which was applauded from those present.

Read more: In US, AM governor seeks partnerships for sustainable projects in Amazon

Forum participants

Also participating in the LIDE Brazil Investment Forum are the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro; from Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema; from Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite; from Paraná, Ratinho Júnior; and Mato Grosso, Mauro Mendes. In addition to the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho; from Espírito Santo, Renato Casagrande; and the mayors of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes, and of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes.

Also invited to the event were former President Michel Temer; the mayor, federal lawmaker Arthur Lira and other parliamentarians. Also participating were the president of Bank of America, Alexandre Bettamio; the president of the Brazilian Federation of Banks, Isaac Sidney; and the Chairman of the Board of Bradesco, Luiz Carlos Trabuco Cappi.

(*) With information from the Press Office