At the end of the twentieth century, the relationship between Brazil and the U.S. is increasingly weighted toward business. Major U.S. companies continue to establish subsidiaries in Brazil. Since the early 1990s Brazil opened its economy to foreign goods by progressively removing trade barriers. The exchange of gods between the two countries is increasing and citizens of each country invest in the other's stock market. Today economic integration plays a prominent role in both countries' economic policy. the U.S. belongs to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), established to facilitate trade between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Brazil belongs to MERCOSUL, the Customs Union between Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay. With its unified import tariffs allowing participants to freely move capital, labor, and services, MERCOSUL has substantially increased regional trade.

Brazilian Economy Growth

In 1999 Brazil's was the eighth largest economy in the world. Brazil has an enormous capacity to absorb new investment and enlarge its economy still further. American investment, which represents 33 percent of the foreign investment in Brazil, has played an important part in Brazil's rapid growth. The United States is Brazil's largest individual trading partner. Brazil and the U.S. have bilateral treaties covering almost every aspect of international relations including extradition, a joint participation agreement on communication satellites and scientific cooperation, civil aviation, and maritime agreements.

Since 1993 the Brazilian government has succeeded in putting together four elements that previously were never successfully integrated: democracy, low inflation, an open market, and economic growth. The consequences of this synergy have made the relationship between Brazil and the U.S. even stronger as each country looks to the other as a valued business partner.

In the fifty years from the end of World War II until today the population of Brazil has more than tripled to over 160 million while the U.S. population has nearly doubled to approximately 260 million. This rapid growth rate in Brazil has created inevitable strains on the country's infrastructure, including its schools, hospitals, and housing. However, since the 1980s, the annual rate of population growth in Brazil has fallen significantly.Going into the 21st century, Brazil's economy is robust and diversified. Brazilian products are commanding an ever-increasing share of world markets for manufactured goods. Today coffee represents only five percent of Brazil's exports although Brazil is still the world's largest producer and exporter of coffee. The United States imports a wide range of products from Brazil, from orange juice concentrate to automotive parts, shoes to passenger airplanes. American exports to Brazil include machinery, computers, and electronic components. Brazil is one of the few important markets with which the U.S. has a surplus in its commercial balance.

At the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami, a gathering in which it was proposed that there be a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005, the two biggest economies in the hemisphere - Brazil and the U.S. - were the main actors in the effort to promote economic integration. At the Summit President Clinton hailed the working relationship between the two countries' delegations.

Brazilian and American society are similar in many ways: Both countries have a mixture of races as a result of immigration - Europeans, Africans, people from the Middle East, and Asians. Both countries have populations of native Indians, some of whom live in areas that the Federal government has set aside for them. The populations in Brazil and the U.S. are mobile and largely urban. Both Brazilians and Americans have a fascination with modern ideas and accept technological changes very quickly. Brazil has the largest number of Internet users after the United States. Social mobility is also an important characteristic of both Brazil and the U.S., quite unlike many European countries. In neither country is one held back because of family background or even country of birth. Immigrants as well as native citizens of both countries become successful through talent, education, and hard work.

There are as many different kinds of Brazilians as there are many different kinds of Americans. A carioca (native of Rio de Janeiro) is likely to have very different attitudes from a rancher in Rio Grande do Sul, just as a Bostonian and a Californian can have quite different outlooks on life, including differing preferences in food and leisure-time activities.

Aside from the growing numbers of Brazilians living in and visiting the U.S., an increasing number of Brazilians are coming to the U.S. to study. Because the Brazilian educational system is very similar to the American, Brazilian exchange students can spend time studying at American high schools without disrupting their matriculation at home. Primary school (grades 1-8) is mandatory for Brazilian children between the ages of seven and fourteen. Secondary education requires 2,200 hours of actual school work and is divided into a minimum of three grades. At the university level it takes from 4 to 6 years to earn an undergraduate degree; 2 to 4 years for a master's; and 4 to 6 years to earn a doctorate.

The majority of Brazilian university students in the U.S. come for postgraduate degrees. In 1995 there were 5,497 Brazilian university students in the United States. University students receive institutional support as well as funding from the Brazilian and American governments. Brazil ranks twelfth among countries of origin of foreign scholars in the United States. In 1996, 1,103 Brazilian scholars were doing research and teaching in the United States. The Chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago, José Sheinkman, is a Brazilian. American scholars such as archaeologist Anna Roosevelt at The Field Museum, Chicago, contribute to research in Brazil. In 1996, Roosevelt's team discovered in a cave in the Amazon new evidence of ancient human cultures dating back some 11,000 years.

In the last few years many Brazilian artists have had shows in the major museums of the United States. Ultramodern: The Art of Contemporary Brazil, 1993, exhibited the work of eighteen Brazilian women artists at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. In 1991 the Museum of Modern Art in New York mounted a major exhibit of the work of Brazilian master landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx's breathtaking range from small-scale private gardens to large public works.

Othe Brazilian artists who have recently had shows at American museums are: Jac Leirner at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., Cildo Meireles at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Leonilson and Tunga at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Rosângelo Rennó at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Regina Vater at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, Hélio Oiticica at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and architect Lina Bo Bardi at The Museum of Architecture and Design in Chicago. Conversely, American art has been extensively exhibited in Brazil. American artist Sol LeWitt created one of his largest murals for the 196 São Paulo Biennial and sculptor Richard Serra had a major exposition at the Hélio Oiticica Art Center in Rio de Janeiro in 1997-98. A part of this exhibit is now a permanent installation at the Center.

In the 1990s, as a result of a new law granting financial incentives to the Brazilina film industry, there was a resurgence of production. Hollywood was quick to recognize the quality of the revitalization effort and three Brazilian movies became Oscar nominees for Best Film in a Foreign Language: O Quatrilho (1996); Four Days in September (1998); and Central Station (1999), directed by Walter Salles, the story of the relationship of a motherless boy with a woman who earns her living writing letters for illiterate people passing through Rio de Janeiro's main train station. In January 1999, Central Station captured the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe Award for foreign language film.

There were U.S. awards for Brazilian musicians as well in the late 1990s with two artists winning World Music Album Grammy Awards - Milton Nascimento for his album Nascimento in 1998 and Gilberto Gil for his album Quanta Live in 1999.

The 1992 "Earth Summit" - the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development - was held in Rio de Janeiro. It brought worldwide attention to several Brazilian programs for environmental protection. One such program is located in Curitiba, a rapidly growing city of 1,5 million in the State of Paraná. Curitiba's bold urban planning initiatives have allowed the city to manage its growth while safeguarding its environment and its comfortable lifestyle. The University of Virginia's 1997 Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture honors Curitiba's achievements.

During a visit by President Clinton to Brazil in October 1997, the two countries strengthened their ties by concluding agreements in several areas of common concern. Among them: protecting and preserving the environment; cooperating on a broad range of law enforcement matters especially in the area of drug trafficking; limiting proliferation of nuclear materials; and working together to explore the frontiers of space. Brazil will contribute Space Station hardware and research facilities to the International Space Station (ISS) program. In exchange, NASA will provide Brazil with Space Station utilization rights as well as a flight opportunity for one Brazilian astronaut during the course of the ISS program. Another outcome of this trip was the launching of an education partnership to advance both countries' shared commitment to ensure that all their citizens have the tools they need to prosper in the 21st century economy.

In 1998, President and Mrs. Clinton invited President and Mrs. Cardoso to spend a weekend at Camp David where the two presidents had an informal, highly productive exchange of views on international political and economic issues. President Cardoso is only the second head of government to be invited by President Clinton to Camp David.

And finally, citizens of both Brazil and the United States fervently believe they live in the best country on earh.