BrazzilMag

The Cost of Living index in the municipality of São Paulo, Brazil's largest city,  rose 0.69% in August, compared to 1.21% in July, reports the union-linked socio-economic study institute Dieese (Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos Sócio-Econômicos). Dieese says the September index should be about the same as August.

The Brazilian market for organic food has been steadily growing at 30% a year. That works out to a market worth around US$ 200 million which has become an internatioanal gold standard for its quality, especially in soybeans, coffee and sugar.

The Minister of National Integration, Ciro Gomes, affirmed today that regional disparities face the country with the "risk of fragmentation." According to the Minister, inequalities among regions have worsened in the past ten years.

Brazil's acting Minister of Mines and Energy, Nelson Hübner, said that investments in the Brazilian energy sector are not lacking and there is enough energy to meet demand through 2008, even if the country grows at rates superior to 4%, according to analyses by the Ministry itself.

The World Bank's forecast in the decade of the '80's about the growth in the number of Aids cases in Brazil did not prove correct. It was predicted that 1.2 million people would be HIV carriers in 2000.

Eletrobrás (Brazilian Electric Holding, S.A.) informed that it signed a technical cooperation agreement this week with the China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, which is responsible for the construction and operation of the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Plant.

Brazilians will be commemorating National Organ Donation Day on September 27. Brazil currently has the largest public system of transplants in the world.

The government of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has launched the second phase of this year's National Hoof and Mouth Disease Vaccination and Erradication Campaign in that state.

The technical director of Brazil's Association of State Sewage Companies (Aesbe), Marcos Tadeu Abicalil, informed that over half the sewage produced in Brazil is not treated, and, to change this situation, Brazil would have to invest approximately US$ 3.4 billion (10 billion reais), about three times more than it does at present.

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said today that some regions of the country require State intervention to develop their economies. In Lula's opinion, the Brazilian government should make investments, even when there is no immediate financial return.

Brazil's special presidential advisor and coordinator of the Zero Hunger Program, Brother Betto, affirmed today that 49 heads of State—including Pope John Paul II—have already signed on to the Brazilian government's suggestion to discuss the creation of an international fund against hunger and for development.

Brazil's secretary of Foreign Commerce at the Ministry of Development, Ivan Ramalho, reports that August exports of US$ 9.056 billion and imports of US$ 5.623 billion were both records for the month.

The French province of Brittany, in the person of the vice governor, Pascale Loget, has signed a letter of intentions with the state of Paraná for the purchase of conventional soy from Brazil. The province annually imports 6 million tons of grains of the product.

The world director of the United Nations Joint Program for HIV/AIDS (Unaids), Peter Piot, says that Brazil has one of the world's best programs for the prevention and treatment of AIDS. Piot made his comment at the Brazilian AIDS Congress in Recife, Pernambuco.

Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Relations released a note stating that the government will "reserve Brazilian rights in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and hold consultations with other relevant government organs to determine the next steps to be taken by the country in that organization."

By the end of 2006, the Brazilian government intends to negotiate and sign judicial cooperation agreements with 50 countries that offer the greatest potential for exchanges, as well as those known as tax havens.

The Brazilian government plans to spend US$ 17 million (50 million reais) to eliminate snags at five of the country's biggest ports: Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Paranaguá, Rio Grande, and Vitória.

In Brazil, beginning this week, the searches for enslaved laborers in the states of Pará and Maranhão will be stepped up. Marcelo Gonçalves, coordinator of the Ministry of Labor's special mobile inspection group, believes that the death of four workers in an accident in Rondon, in Pará, demonstrates the necessity of making the inspections even more rapid and permanent.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva repeated his pledge that Brazil will install an antiretroviral drug factory in Maputo, capital of Mozambique. Antiretroviral drugs are used to control the HIV virus in the human organism.