 Good morning, Mr. President, Tamir, it's a great pleasure to welcome you to Davos for the first time. Thank you for accepting my invitation when we met in Sao Paulo last April. And thank you for your valuable collaboration towards a Latin American meeting, regional meeting which will be hosted in Sao Paulo in your home city in March. Your presence here is important. As Brazil is going through a moment of tremendous and decisive transformation. As you noted, Mr. President, in a recent speech with structural reform, Brazil is overcoming an unprecedented economic crisis. It's recovering its fine fiscal balance and with it its credibility in the world and its attractivity for foreign investments. As a new, more open Brazil emerges from your reforms, Mr. President, your efforts will also show the importance of what I refer to as smart globalization. By this I mean rebuilding national social contracts while simultaneously strengthening the integration of Brazil into the global economy. Please welcome Mr. Excellency, Mr. Tamir, the President of Brazil. I wish to extend my greetings to Professor Klaus Schwab, and likewise may I extend my greetings and voice my words of welcome to all of you, ladies and gentlemen. And may I, without further ado, convey to you a clear-cut message summed up in one short sentence, i.e., Brazil is back in business. The new Brazil that is now back in business, as highlighted by Professor Schwab in his introductory remark, is a more prosperous, a more open country, a country with more opportunities for investments, more opportunities for trade and business. And all of this, dear friends and ladies and gentlemen, comes following the most severe recession we have ever faced in Brazil. And despite the recession, Brazil has nevertheless come back to the growth track. This recession, which in the past had reached double digits, came to the end of 2017 once again under control, and below 3%, 3% being close to the baseline level of 2.95 interest rates, likewise are consistently following and have reached their lowest ever level. They used to be at 14.25 and currently are way down to 7%. State-owned enterprises, which had suffered billions worth of losses, currently enjoy substantial profits. Our agricultural or crop yield has beaten all records. Our trade balance in 2017 posted a surplus of over $60 billion, also in 2017, and only until November 2017, the net inflow of direct investments in Brazil totaled $64 billion. The country risk has dropped consistently from over 500 basis points in January 2016 down to the current level of no more than 200 basis points. And all of these gains, ladies and gentlemen, were achieved within no more than one year and eight months in office. We're not talking about an administration that will last four or eight years. And in this short time span, we have succeeded in drastically changing the face of Brazil. We have as such carried out in advance the broad-ranging agenda of reforms aimed at modernizing, upgrading the economy, the business environment, the labor market, public management practices, and also enhancing the day-to-day administration of state-owned enterprises as well. Our current agenda of reforms has been recognized as being the most comprehensive series of reforms ever implemented in Brazil in a very long time. To be more precise, actually there are five key concepts in key words which very much underlie my speech today and which help capture the essence of our agenda. And they also help explain the new Brazil that has emerged as a result of these reforms, the reforms that I have referred to and will expand in greater depth. These are key terms that convey the principles and the objectives that have guided us in this historic journey we have been pursuing in Brazil. The first keyword out of the five key concepts is about responsibility. In dealing with the crisis that we inherited from day one, from the very beginning, we rejected the false populist shortcuts. After all, one ought to govern on the basis of a long-term vision. Our diagnosis was and remains unmistakable, i.e., the past populism had left us with the legacy of a fiscal, a serious fiscal crisis, and only fiscal responsibility would bring us out of that crisis. And this is precisely how we have been acting. With a keen sense of responsibility, we have, for example, afforded total transparency and accountability to public accounts, therefore revealing, without half-truths, what the country's real fiscal situation was, no pretexts, no excuses. We have thus passed an amendment to the constitution setting a new ceiling capping government spending for 20 years, a measure that, as such, ensures proper re-balancing of government accounts. As a result of our fiscal consolidation efforts, in 2017, we posted a primary fiscal deficit way below the target and way below the expectations at the time. I must also say that our sense of responsibility is not only circumscribed to the fiscal dimension, it also includes a social dimension. After all, we are talking about two sides of one and the same coin, because without fiscal responsibility, social responsibility is nothing but empty words, empty rhetoric. After all, only when public accounts are in good shape and in proper order can there be growth and jobs. Only when public accounts are in good shape can there be budgetary space for socially oriented policies that are critical in a country still marked by inequality, as is our case. The second keyword on our agenda is dialogue. In politics, as is true in life in general, very little can be achieved in isolation or alone, even less so when it comes to the task of overcoming challenges, big challenges such as those we have come across when we took office. It was absolutely necessary to join forces. The previously worn-down relations between the administration or the executive and Congress have been restored and the legislative branch, as it ought to be, in true democracies, has become a high-profile player in the collective effort to rebuild Brazil. Accomplishing our mission in office requires the ability to listen, the ability to persuade, to join forces, and to come to compromise solutions. This is how we have garnered the necessary political support for the changes we are currently promoting. The third keyword is efficiency. To that end, ladies and gentlemen, we have passed crucial reforms to improve economic productivity and boost the competitiveness of Brazilian products. An example here is our recent labor reform. We have changed our labor legislation which had been written some eight years ago and we have updated it to the 21st century. Employment arrangements that are typical of today's reality have now been given clear provisions. Employment arrangements that are already in place in so many other countries, therefore protecting workers while ensuring legal certainty to employers. I also wish to state on this efficiency chapter that we have likewise reformed our education system, particularly, and King Philip will probably appreciate this reference, particularly secondary education. We have thus replaced what used to be an obsolete model of standardized outdated curricula for a new model that is much more fully in line with the job market, a new model that now enables young students to pursue from day one their professional call or vocation from a young age. We have likewise engaged the whole of the public administration in a focused effort to enhance the business environment. We have been slashing layers of bureaucracy nationwide. Tens of red tape procedures have been either removed or streamlined altogether, all of which is obviously aimed at making it easier to import and export, to start, open up or close a business as the case may be. We are currently automating registration processes and computerizing tax and customs procedures because after all, an entrepreneur's time, we all know, is too valuable to be spent in queues or in government service counters. Our fourth keyword, ladies and gentlemen, is about rationality. Today, find in contemporary Brazil a country endowed with a legal framework that is grounded in market reality, a country that knows all too well that the state apparatus cannot and indeed should not do everything. We have adopted a realistic model of concessions and privatizations with a safe and stable regulatory framework. In the brief period of one year and a half only, just by a way of example, we have tended 70 projects to the private sector and another 75 such projects, Professor Schwab, will be put to tender in 2018. These include ports, airports, highways, railways, power transmission lines, gas and oil deposits, which are being led by Pedro Parente's efforts, offering great opportunities to domestic and international investors and companies. We have also strengthened the autonomy of our regulatory agencies, while ensuring that they will operate on a technical and independent basis. We have passed a new bill governing state-owned enterprises, one that ensures professionalism in the management of large-scale Brazilian companies. We have put in place objective rules governing the oil and gas sector, therefore releasing the state from the obligation to participate through petrol bras in all pre-salt-layer-related operations. Last but not least, we are also guided by another important concept, and it is translated through the term openness, a keyword for us. We know all too well that we live in a world where isolationists' trends are gaining ground. However, we all know that protectionism is not a solution. When we are closed within ourselves, we are closed to new technologies, we are closed to new ideas, new possibilities, and we therefore remain closed to actual, effective solutions to our shared problems. My administration has by contrast been acting to increasingly integrate Brazil to the global economy and position the country properly in the international scene. By walking together with our Mercosur partner nations, we have restored the bloc's original vocation for free market. We have identified trade barriers and we have been walking to remove them. Likewise, in the Mercosur bloc of countries, we have signed investment agreements and more recently, we have even signed an agreement on government procurement. Through a keen sense of openness, we have also drawn closer ties with the countries of the Pacific Alliance, and we have also opened up new trade negotiating fronts with countries such as Canada, South Korea, Singapore, and for the first time in 20 years, we have the realistic prospects of very soon successfully completing the bi-regional Mercosur European Union trade agreement, an agreement which we wish will prove wide-ranging and properly balanced. The Brazilian government has also applied to exceed to the OECD, an organization of which we are a key partner and whose set of standards is already broadly in line with the Brazilian legislation. At the multilateral level, Brazil has advocated a trade system anchored on rules, a rules-based system, and has also supported the role performed by the WTO in dispute settlement issues. Likewise, we have supported the Paris Agreement on climate change. Brazil was the second country to deposit its ratification instrument at the UN, therefore confirming the Paris Agreement. A country like Brazil, a country that has the largest tropical rainforest coverage on the planet, a country with one of the world's cleanest energy mixes, and a country that has succeeded in becoming an agricultural powerhouse while using less than 9 percent of its national territory, and may I stress less than 9 percent of our national territories used for agricultural production. So this is, ladies and gentlemen, the new Brazil that is in a nutshell. We are in a position to showcase to you today a Brazil of responsibility, not one of populism, a country of dialogue, not of intransigence or uncompromising stances, a country of efficiency, not red tape, a country of rationality, not of unrealism, a country of openness, not a country of isolationism. Ladies and gentlemen, I understand that many of you may be asking yourselves whether or not we will follow ahead and follow on this path into the future and whether or not this journey is not potentially threatened by the upcoming elections to be held in Brazil later this year. May I say to you, without further ado, with an absolute sense of conviction and firmness, that yes, we shall complete our agenda. The voters that will show up to cast their votes in October knows all too well that the agenda of reforms enable growth and jobs and also leads to social and economic gains. Only today, the main political and economic players all agree that there is no alternative to the agenda of reforms that we are currently promoting and putting in place. The potential for a setback in Brazil is virtually nonexistent. The next step to be taken, actually following all of the reforms, the next step will be about bringing the social security system into order, a task in which we are highly focused and remain highly committed to. The Brazilian population at large has come to the understanding that the current situation or the current system is unfair and therefore untenable, unsustainable. We will therefore battle day and night to ensure that Congress will pass the proposed social security reform bill that is currently going through Congress. Our proposed bills and reforms have actually been very solidly passed by the Brazilian Parliament. And by way of conclusion, may I say that our agenda of reforms will not be exhausted once the social security reform is completed. Actually beyond that, before the end of the year, we wish to streamline our tax system precisely in order to facilitate life for the business community, for workers, for Brazilian citizens at large. Ladies and gentlemen, may I say, as I mentioned before, that Brazil has come out of the crisis in a stronger position and has come back to the development track. And now at a point in time where the world's largest economies are resuming a growth pattern once again and all at the same time, we are in a position to provide our input and contribution. And that is why I would like to reiterate my original remarks. Brazil is back in business. And for that same reason, we wish to invite you all to take part in this new chapter in our history. Do invest in Brazil and you shall not regret. Thank you very much. Mr. President. Congratulations. We just have to imagine what it means to undertake such a package of reforms in 20 months. And you are not the CEO of a company who just, let's say, pushes the reforms through. You have to deal with Congress and with many different constituency groups. And so it's very remarkable and so five factors as a basic philosophy, it's impressive. We wish you also good luck for the last piece of the reform, which is the Social Security Reform. Now, we speak here, Mr. President, I have prepared quite a number of questions, but actually you have answered practically all of them. And maybe, Ancel Gorear, you may have more questions, but one question which I have, we speak a lot about new technologies, the force industry revolution. And Brazil, I remember in the 70s when I was the first time in Brazil, I was putting a lot of emphasis on being a leader in new technologies. And, son, you were very protectionist in this respect. How do you see the role of digitalization new technologies in the future of the new Brazil which you are building, Mr. President? Well, first of all, Professor Schwab, may I say that the topics included in my remarks were very much a foreshadow to a certain extent, these were potential questions. And the second thing I'd like to say is that we couldn't agree more when it comes to the ongoing digitalization efforts. Actually technology breakthroughs and innovations have been a central concern on our agenda. We do acknowledge, nevertheless, that we have a long way to go in that regard, but we do have a special purpose ministry in place to cover those issues, and that is the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. And we have, obviously, afforded great attention to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to foster the technology agenda. And when it comes to the digital agenda likewise, and may I state for the record that very recently we launched the geostationary satellite, which has been very successfully launched. But this is a clear-cut example about our efforts to ensure that broadband availability will reach every corner of the country, you know, north, south. Even the furthest regions of the country will be duly covered by broadband connectivity. So in a nutshell, I'd like to answer your question with two key statements. Number one, our concern and interest in achieving technology innovation levels that have already been achieved by other countries. And number two, our focused efforts to likewise prove successful in the effort. Thank you again. I know now, Mr. President, that you have a number of world-class companies represented also here in the room. When we look at, you didn't mention explicitly, corruption. Now I know you have outlined policies which certainly address the issue in a fundamental way. But in the past, you still have some corruption cases which are hanging over. Do you think they may in any way influence the forthcoming elections? I believe it will prove a pretty natural topic in the discussion rounds, and as much as there will probably be a very strong debate and focused effort against corruptions in Brazil. Now the main point in your question helps me highlight that in Brazil the key institutions are working sovereignly. There's an absolute and clear cut separation among the different powers that be each branch of course operating freely and independently from each other. We also have the inspection and control agencies duly in place and operating independently and properly. One example here, Professor Schwab is the federal police service, the public prosecutor's office and the audit courts that have permanently inspected and controlled every act undertaken by the administration. Furthermore, the federal constitution does establish as one of the key anchors and tenants the absolute need for ensuring transparency and accountability in government action. So your question leads me to state that we do have institutions that are working very properly and smoothly. The judiciary has proved to try and judge very properly and smoothly while applying of course the relevant laws as appropriate. And whenever sentences are issued, sentences and penalties are served. The fact that you have highlighted should possibly have been included in my remarks because after all our efforts to tackle corruption have provided a great deal of legal certainty for anyone willing to invest in Brazil because people now know that institutions do work and operate regularly so it helps us build a legal certainty more particularly as regards contractual certainty. I'm sure you know all too well that no one is willing to enter into an investment country without really knowing what will happen into the future without predictability while or whereas by contrast when institutions are working properly as they are today contractual certainty is absolutely key and contractual certainty is the result of legal certainty more broadly and it therefore serves as an incentive to our investors. Mr. President we are coming to the end of our session and certainly we will follow up many of those issues when we meet for the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Sao Paulo's 13th and 15th of March and of course we invite you all I hope I speak also in your name we invite you all to come to Sao Paulo and maybe one last very short message Mr. President what would be we we have as a seems that we are living in a fractured world and in your country you still have also high levels of poverty what is your message to the people who presently are still left out of let's say the wealth generation process which you are reformed certainly will bring to the country what is your message to those people Professor Schwabmahn is a message of optimism to them because all of our socially oriented policies that have put in place in the course of my past year and I have in government have yielded concrete results so I do not dwell on words only but rather my remarks are grounded on the recent developments in the country on the ground one example is our keen concern about unemployment which in the past used to affect 14 million people in the past quarter one million four hundred thousand new job posts were formally established just to give you an idea ladies and gentlemen just last year when we came to the end of the year we had one million three hundred thousand job posts being lost whereas this year only 28,000 such posts were lost so a major difference between one million three hundred thousand job posts that had been eliminated when we took office down to 28,000 job posts being lost only meaning that job replenishment efforts in Brazil are proving very successful and very rapidly so and given the stock and extreme levels of poverty in certain sectors of society we have social programs such as the family stipend program for example which started in previous administrations which have now been updated and the value of which has been increased talking about the family stipend program of course we do not wish people to remain in an extreme level of poverty forever and having to benefit from government programs so with that in mind we launched a program called progressing forward moving forward meaning that with support from the business community and workers community at the large we will ensure job posts are preferentially allocated to children born to families who are current beneficiaries of the family stipend program to help them move forward and make progress ahead so we have enhanced the value of the student loan program therefore providing funds to ensure that needy students are able to likewise benefit from higher education opportunities these are all efforts that are fully underway and these are not just wars but these are concrete facts and figures that show the new Brazil before I thanks the president let me just remind you that we will go immediately we will continue with the program so please remain seated for our session on China but president tamer I think it's remarkable and it is also instilling a lot of optimism when we see what can be achieved in a short time if you have the right vision and you also have the right force or let me say the willingness and the courage to undertake such a large comprehensive package of reforms as you have done I think it's a message which will make us all optimist not only in terms of your country but in terms of what we here in the room can achieve if we work together thank you very much for coming into the snow of Davos from sunny Brazil but we will have the great pleasure to meet again in six seven weeks time thank you very much Mr.