Atlanta Fed to Talk About Brazil’s Economic Integration

          The Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank has a special supervisory role in Brazil–U.S. banking relations, making its Latin American research representatives expert voices for a panel on Brazil’s vision for regional economic integration during the Georgia-Brazil Business Summit at the Carter Center, March 6.

          “The Atlanta Fed has a dual role in Latin American-U.S. banking, first as a regulator for the banking practices of home country banks, and also as a monitor of countries’ macro-economic situations,” Michael Christ, director of Latin America research at the Atlanta Fed, told GlobalFax.

          With this macro-economic insight, Atlanta Fed coordinator of Latin America research, Elizabeth McQuerry, will address Brazil’s economic relations with its neighbors and with the U.S. as part of a Carter Center panel, according to Tim Perry, honorary consul of Brazil in Atlanta.

The panel, he said, will feature a senior delegation of Brazilian officials and U.S. Latin American specialists. These include Ms. McQuerry; Brazil’s minister of development, industry and trade, Alcides Tapias; the Brazilian ambassador to the U.S., Rubens Barbosa; chairman of the South American economic union MERCOSUL Committee, Julio Redecker; director of the Carter Center’s Latin American and Caribbean program and professor at Georgia State University, Jennifer McCoy and Brazilianist, Jeffrey Schott.

Other panels will discuss Georgia-Brazil trade, including a session on private sector perspectives for doing business with Brazil, moderated by Mr. Perry and featuring senior officials from Delta Air Lines, Nokia, Ernst and Young and the Brazilian law firm Castro Barros.

The conference is a joint effort of the Brazilian embassy in Washington, the Brazil-U.S. Business Council and the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce (BACC) in Atlanta.

Mr. Perry is a partner in the law firm Alston & Bird and was officially named honorary consul of Brazil in August 2000 after the Brazilian consulate general closed in 1999.

Alston & Bird has a Brazilian intern attorney on staff each year as part of its International Lawyers Program to assist local companies doing business with Brazil. This year’s intern is Otavio Carneiro of Veirano & Advogados law firm.

For information about the Georgia-Brazil Summit, contact David Bruce, director of the BACC, at (404) 463-9415. Mr. Perry may be reached at (404) 881-7987.