Fortified by world demand for food and fuel, Brazil launched the U.S. road show for its $300 billion growth plan in Atlanta June 23, seeking partners and investors. The delegation is to visit New York and San Francisco next.

Welcomed by Adalnio Senna Ganem, Brazil’s new consul general in Atlanta, the Brazilian officials met with business representatives from the Southeast at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle; Gretchen Corbin, division director, international operations for the Georgia Department of Economic Development and Sam Williams, president of the metro chamber, were among the local officials who greeted the Brazilians.

With the long-awaited reopening of an Atlanta consulate general anticipated for July, the moment seemed appropriate for an overview of business opportunities, and the conference room at the chamber of was full.

“$300 billion is a lot of money,” an impressed Mr. Williams said in his formal remarks.

“It looks like business with Brazil is going to pick up again,” Gail Rockburne, director of international development for the McCart Group, told GlobalAtlanta between speakers.

Mr. Cagle told the officials including Maurcio Muniz Baretto de Carvalho, the growth plan’s executive coordinator, that on a recent trip to Brazil he became aware of the extent of the country’s biofuels industry.

“Georgia needs to be the leader in the Southeast in the area of ethanol,” the lieutenant governor said, suggesting that the state would benefit from closer business relations.

The Brazilian officials said that the plan was based on the country sustaining an annual 5 percent growth rate in coming years.

Brazil’s strengths as a leading exporter of food and fuel has made such a goal achievable for the first time in years, they said, but it also put pressure on its infrastructure, the country’s Achilles’ heel for years and a major impediment to growth.

Because of a deteriorated network for domestic shipping and the underdevelopment of the county’s extensive waterways, companies depend primarily on expensive road haulage.

Foreign direct investment is required to develop its logistics, energy and social and urban sectors, the officials said, especially if Brazil is to have more countrywide development and more widespread income distribution.

The officials said that the country’s 34 public ports are in particular need of attention as the demand for Brazilian goods rises. The country’s highways and railroads also need to be expanded, they added.

A high-speed train between Brazil’s two largest cities, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, is to be completed before 2014 when Brazil is to hold the soccer World Cup.

The need to build and expand 27 airports also is a priority, as is the country’s need for a flotilla of merchant marine ships.

In addition, investment in the country’s urban and social infrastructure including sanitation, housing, subways, waste disposal and water resources is essential, they said.

And although Brazil is a global leader in the development of ethanol, there are opportunities for investments in its energy sector.

Representatives of Southeastern companies met with the Brazilian officials in one-on-one meetings into the afternoon during which they discussed various contracts that they could bid on and the opportunities for public-private initiatives.