Minister of State for Foreign Relations

Commitment to improving the country's social indicators, the present Government has won the credential s required for squired for squarely facing the challenges of expanding Brazil's economics and trading presences in a globalised world that must prove itself more soldiery and equitable.

The Results already achieved in trade are encouraging. We need to do more, however, not only on the domestic front (improving infrastructure and working to make our exports more competitive on the international market) but also overseas, opening up markets and removing barriers.

we want the world to know Brazil better and to see it in all its complexity. This is the country that fights against hunger and destitution, the country of soccer and carnaval, a powerhouse for agribusiness fibre optics, space research, the Genome Project, deep-sea oil drilling and innovative software.

The "Brazil: Brand of Excellence" magazine, partly sponsored by private enterprise is designed to be a quality publicity vehicle for spreading abroad a multifarious image of Brazil. Since it presents a broad cross-section of the country as it is today, we hope it will serve to attract readers from all corners of the globe and all walks of life for whom we are opening a window onto present-day Brazil. The magazine is to be published initially in Portuguese and English but there are plant o launch edition in Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, German and Russian in the near future.

This initiative reflects Itamaraty's commitment to revitalised, affirmative trade policy, and it is thus with great satisfaction that I submit it to the public.