“Brazil,” Tom Jobim once warned, “is not for beginners.”

If he were advising Canadian businesspeople looking at entering the Brazilian market for the first time, the famous composer of The Girl from Ipanema might have added “unless you’re with someone who knows how to get around.”

When I visited Chile five years ago, Canadians doing business in that country talked about how similar it was to doing it at home. The language and culture were very different from ours, but government systems ran well, the rule of law was respected, and Chileans and Canadians had similar ideas about what business and work were all about.

The following is an excerpt from an article written by Canadian Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Perrin Beatty and BUSINESSEUROPE President Jürgen R. Thumman:

With progress stalled on a new multilateral trade agreement at the World Trade Organization, countries are increasingly looking to bilateral and regional negotiations to remove barriers and promote economic growth. A good place to start would be by redoubling efforts to reach a Canada-European Union (EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Canada and the EU both need to find ways to allow our businesses to grow, innovate and expand their foreign trade and investment. We estimate that CETA can generate more than $40 billion in economic gains from open market access across the goods and services sectors, and enhance two-way investment by $12 billion and up to 80,000 jobs for Canada alone. It will facilitate trade procedures for businesses, reduce technical barriers, strengthen intellectual property protection and send a clear message of support for open, rules-based global trade and investment.

Read the complete article.

Le 26 avril est la Journée mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle. Créée en 2000 par l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle, la Journée mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle célèbre la créativité, ainsi que la contribution des créateurs et des innovateurs au développement de sociétés dans le monde entier et encourage le respect des droits de propriété intellectuelle des tiers.

Cette année, la Journée mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle a pour thème innovateurs visionnaires. La Chambre de commerce du Canada tient à féliciter ses membres innovantes qui ont créé des produits et services qui ont enrichi nos vies et ont permis à notre pays de devenir plus productif et concurrentiel.

La Chambre de commerce du Canada, en collaboration avec le Conseil canadien de la propriété intellectuelle, préconise l’amélioration du régime de protection des droits de propriété intellectuelle (PI) au Canada. Le gouvernement canadien se doit d’adopter des politiques qui renforceront les mesures de protection des données, encourageront l’investissement dans l’économie du savoir du Canada et permettront aux entreprises canadiennes de croître et de prospérer. Il doit également prendre les mesures nécessaires pour protéger les consommateurs canadiens contre les produits contrefaits qui, dans certains cas, ont été liés au crime organisé et ont entraîné des maladies graves et des décès.

Visiting Brasilia for the first time, you quickly notice the similarities between it and Australia’s capital, Canberra. Brasilia’s population dwarfs Canberra’s, but In the layout of their roads and the architecture of their buildings, each reflects the government’s determination to construct its national capital from scratch in a location chosen to avoid giving an existing city a special advantage over its rivals.

Brasilia became the capital fifty-two years ago this week, and the modernist architecture of the government buildings that seemed extraordinarily futuristic in the 1960’s reminds visitors of how much the country has changed in the last half century. That transformation continues today. Brazil is very much a work in progress.

Governor General David Johnston’s plane put down Sunday evening in Brazil’s capital city, marking the start of a week-long visit to Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. He then travels to Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago before returning home. His goal is to deepen Canada’s education, trade and investment and cultural ties with these three countries.

While he’s in Brazil, the Governor General will hook up with over two dozen Canadian university presidents who are in the country for a conference on international education. I’ll describe what they hope to achieve in a separate posting this week.