MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula takes Brazilian roadshow to Wall St.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, will travel to New York City on Tuesday in an attempt to secure much-needed investment from Wall Street bankers and help accelerate the country's sluggish economic growth.

It is the latest in a series of high-profile trade promotion trips Mr Lula da Silva has undertaken in recent months and underscores a new-found priority in the upper echelons of the left-leaning government to improve ties with international investors.

Almost a dozen cabinet members will be accompanying the president on his trip, including Antonio Palocci, the market-friendly finance minister, and Henrique Meirelles, central bank president.

The visit comes amid renewed tension in trade relations between Washington and Braslia, highlighted by Brazil's victory last week in obtaining a World Trade Organisation ruling condemning US cotton subsidies.

Negotiations to create a Free Trade Area for the Americas by the end of the year are stalled and bilateral trade has fallen. By comparison, Brazil's trade with the European Union has grown substantially and negotiations to create a free-trade area between the EU and Mercosur, the four-nation South American customs union, have advanced considerably.

Mr Lula da Silva, who has proved popular during previous visits to the US, will make numerous presentations. On Wednesday alone, the charismatic former union leader will participate in four seminars, including a keynote speech at a seminar called "Brazil meets markets".

But 18 months into office, Mr Lula da Silva will have to do more than just reassure investors he will stick to orthodox economic policies. Company and finance executives will be looking for progress in the government's repeated pledges to improve Brazil's investment climate.

A series of legislative proposals to improve the country's regulatory framework and provide legal guarantees for infrastructure projects and bank loans have been stuck in Congress for months. Last week, defeat of the government's minimum salary proposal in the Senate raised concern that the administration might be losing political support for its economic reform agenda.

While in New York, Mr Lula da Silva will seek to attract not only foreign but also Brazilian investors. In an attempt to tap billions of dollars that Brazilians hold abroad, he will inaugurate a facility that will enable them to send remittances home at a branch of the Caixa Economica Federal, the country's largest state-owned bank.