Macron Urges Brazilian Companies to ‘Believe More’ in France

Samy Adghirni
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(Bloomberg) -- President Emmanuel Macron is inviting Brazilian companies to step up investment in France as he seeks to diversify international partnerships.

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“Brazilian companies must believe more in France,” he told business leaders gathered Wednesday in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s financial capital. “We can do much more.”

Macron cited a gap in bilateral investment between both countries: While more than 1,000 French companies have invested about $44 billion in Brazil, Brazilian companies have put only $2 billion in France, according to figures compiled by the Elysee.

Brazilian banks, he said, would be particularly welcome in France. “We are the big winners of post-Brexit,” the French leader said, after meeting with chief executives of two large Brazilian financial institutions, Itau Unibanco SA and Banco BTG Pactual SA.

Read More: Macron Goes to Brazil Seeking Movement on Ukraine: What to Watch

Sao Paulo was Macron’s second stop in his three-day visit to Brazil, part of his push to expand political and business partnerships beyond France’s traditional allies. He started his tour in Belem, in the Amazon forest, where he met his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Both presidents have been trying to revive relations between France and Brazil, which soured under Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. Yet for all of their personal chemistry, they have some large obstacles to overcome, including opposing views on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and disagreements over the current proposal for a trade deal between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc of South American nations.

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