http://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2013, MercoPress. http://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif http://en.mercopress.com/ Brazilian opposition unified over the weekend behind Aecio Neves who was elected by a landslide president of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB. His naming opens the way for his candidacy to the 2014 presidential election, when President Dilma Rousseff will be bidding for another four years.

]]> Tue, 21 May 2013 06:22:00 GMT Brazil’s Congress approved legislation that opens up state-owned ports to private investment and lifts restrictions on the building of private ports in a bid to eliminate serious bottlenecks strangling the country’s export growth. The Brazilian Association of Infrastructure and Basic Industries praised the approval of the bill and anticipate investment of 25bn dollars.

]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 22:22:00 GMT Brazil’s main financial newspaper Valor Economico revealed that the recent summit between Presidents Cristina Fernandez and Dilma Rousseff from Argentina and Brazil was far from polite and enlightening, rather the contrary with “strong disagreements in the fields of trade and investment” shaking the foundations of Mercosur.

]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 19:47:00 GMT UK Government Minister Ken Clarke is leading the UK's largest ever Healthcare Technology and Life Sciences delegation to Brazil. Twenty eight companies will travel to Sao Paulo to attend Hospitalar (21 – 24 May), the largest healthcare exhibition in South America, which is expecting to attract around 90,000 visitors – as well as taking part in the trade mission.

]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 01:11:00 GMT Brazil's Deputy Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa, who helped design some of the government's flagship economic projects, has handed in his resignation for personal reasons and will leave the post in June, the ministry announced on Monday.

]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 17:24:00 GMT BP and Total, Europe’s biggest oil companies after Shell, won exploration rights in the Amazon basin as Brazil’s first oil auction in five years attracts a record level of bids. Total, based in Paris, gained exploration access to operate five blocks at the Foz do Amazonas basin in northern Brazil together with partners BP and Petrobras, the oil regulator said on Tuesday.

]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 06:50:00 GMT Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo vowed to revive the deadlocked World Trade Organisation, as he was confirmed this week as the incoming leader of the body which sets the rules for global commerce.

]]> Tue, 14 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT Brazil’s state-controlled oil firm Petrobras sold 11 billion dollars of global debt on Monday in the largest-ever bond offering by a Latin American company. The deal was split in six tranches comprised of fixed- and floating-rate debt with maturities ranging from three to 30 years, according to a report from Thomson Reuters.

]]> Tue, 14 May 2013 06:36:00 GMT German President Joachim Gauck arrived on Sunday to Brazil with economic and trade issues as the centre of his visit. The trip to Sao Paulo marks the start of the Year of Germany in Brazil, which Gauck's predecessor Christian Wulff agreed on with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in May 2011.

]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 04:08:00 GMT Brazil succeeded in selling 50 million US dollars worth of dollar-denominated government bonds in Asian markets on Friday, the Treasury Department announced.

]]> Sat, 11 May 2013 05:40:00 GMT