The Federation of Industries of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan) presented today (18) the Agenda Firjan Proposals for a Brazil 4.0, a set of proposals to encourage economic growth in the country, especially in the state of Rio. There are 62 proposals of national scope and 41 focused on the state, which can contribute to the planning of public policies at both levels of government. The document will be sent to candidates for the Presidency of the Republic and the government of Rio de Janeiro.
For Firjan, productivity is the key to the advancement of the industry in the country. “Today, with the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 needs [de] a Brazil 4.0, which will only be achieved with increased productivity.”
The Agenda Firjan Proposals for a Brazil 4.0 is the result of the work of the Industrial Policy Working Group, made up of industrialists from different sectors and regions of the state of Rio. For the elaboration of the document, 600 businessmen from Rio de Janeiro, who make up the various business councils and regional councils of the entity, were heard.
The vice president of Firjan and coordinator of the Industrial Policy Agenda WG, Luiz Césio Caetano, said that the assessment included in the agenda indicates that the increase in productivity can generate growth of US$ 1.04 trillion in the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). in the next five years. If the growth from US$ 1.804 trillion to US$ 2.821 trillion is confirmed, the country would move from 12th to 8th position in the ranking of the largest economies in the world by 2027.
The document highlights that Brazil has historically registered low productivity and that, in recent years, GDP growth has been related to factors that will not be repeated in the future, including the rapid growth of the working-age population in relation to the country’s total population. .
The agenda, which focuses on increasing productivity as a fundamental factor for the Brazilian economic recovery in the coming years, is divided into four pillars: business environment, infrastructure, human capital and state efficiency.
Seminar
After the presentation of the agenda, the Seminar Strong Industry, Most Productive Country began, mediated by the president of the Firjan Economic Council, Rodrigo Santiago.
Petrobras Relationship and Sustainability director Rafael Chaves said that it is with innovation that companies achieve productivity gains and recalled that the world is constantly changing: those who do not innovate are left behind.
Chaves highlighted that, at Petrobras, there is a lot of belief in innovation. “At our Cepes, Research and Innovation Center, last year, there was a patent every three days, more or less, in the exploration and production segment, in the [em] that we separate the oil and gas on the seabed, free up space on the platform and reinject the gas. There are a lot of gains there. First, the most expensive square meter in Rio de Janeiro is not the [do] Leblon, it’s [o da] oil platform.”
He explained that, first, space is freed up on the oil platform when separating the seabed; second, the CO² is reinjected and not released into the atmosphere. “So, the planet is protected. It is with innovation that we can achieve productivity gains, and the world is increasingly demanding.”
At the end of the meeting, the president of Firjan, Eduardo Eugenio Gouvêa Vieira, defended the creation of the Ministry of Industry. For Vieira, the industry, with its importance in sales, employment, recognition for tax collection and the multiplier effect on other sectors, does not have a specialized dialogue at the highest level in Brasília, as agriculture and tourism do. “The world has already rediscovered the industry, and the best way for Brasília to show that it has also understood this is the creation of the Ministry of Industry”, defended Vieira.
According to the president of Firjan, the world asks for a broad and diversified industry, which already exists in Brazil and Rio. Vieira added that the agenda launched today brings actions that the entity understands as important for advancing the productivity of Brazilian industry in the post-pandemic cycle, which is here to stay. Some of the proposals have been under discussion for some time, which accentuates the lost time and the urgency of the solution, as is the case of the tax reform, he added.
“How can something so inefficient, ineffective, that it cannot have a defender among the 215 million Brazilians, continue to get worse day by day, with new norms, decrees and regulations, without the Executive and Legislative powers building and approving the new system? ”, questioned Vieira, adding that, even so, he remains optimistic in the face of some advances such as the approval of the social security reform.
“Brazil and Rio have a way. It just depends on us,” she emphasized.
Also present at the seminar, the executive vice president of Corporate and Institutional Affairs at Vale, Alexandre D’Ambrosio, defended the tax reform, saying that, today, one of the things on which there is consensus in Brazilian society and among the candidates for the elections is the need for tax reform. “We’ve been hearing this for years, decades. Tax reform may be simpler than people think. It’s not about creating new taxes, but simplifying the process,” he said.
