Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin on economic and science mission to Brazil

Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin will visit Brazil from 3 to 9 July with a large economic and science delegation. The focus of the trip will be a meeting with Brazilian Vice President and Minister of the Economy Geraldo Alckmin and the free trade agreement between EFTA and Mercosur. A further aim of the visit is to strengthen cooperation in education, research and innovation. A total of three memoranda of understanding are to be signed. Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) will be accompanied on the visit by State Secretaries Helene Budliger Artieda (SECO) and Martina Hirayama (SERI), and by Vice Presidents of the Foreign Affairs Committees Hans-Peter Portmann and of the Council of States Marco Chiesa. The economic delegation will comprise more than 30 people from Switzerland, who will be joined for certain items on the agenda by representatives of Swiss companies with subsidiaries in Brazil. The science delegation will include representatives from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse, the ETH Board and the Leading House for the Latin America Region.