It is an honour to once again open the General Assembly.
I come here to show a Brazil that is different from the one portrayed in newspapers or television. Brazil has changed a great deal since we took office in January 2019.
Brazil has not had a single case of corruption in the past two years and eight months. My country has a President who believes in God, respects the Constitution, values family principles and is loyal to its people. This is a lot; it is a solid foundation, considering that we were on the brink of socialism.
Our State-owned enterprises used to incur losses in the billions of dollars, and are now profitable. Our National Development Bank was used as a conduit to finance public works in communist countries, with no collateral guarantees. It is the Brazilian people themselves who bore the brunt of those commitments and costs.
All of that has changed. I now present to the General Assembly a new Brazil, whose credibility has already been restored worldwide. My country currently has the largest public-private investment partnership programme in its history. This programme is already in place and being fully implemented. So far, we have collected $100 billion in new investment contracts and $23 billion in concession projects.
In the infrastructure sector, we auctioned 34 airports and 29 port terminals to the private sector. We already have more than $6 billion in private contracts for new railroads. We also introduced a railway permit system, which brings our model closer to that of the United States. In just a few days, we received 14 applications for permits for new railroads, amounting to nearly $15 billion in private investments.
Under our Administration, we have promoted the revitalization of the railway transportation system. As a result, there is less fossil fuel consumption and a decrease in operational costs associated with doing business in Brazil, especially in connection with food production.
Great progress has been made in the field of basic sanitation. The largest auction in this sector’s history took place in April, with concession projects granted for water distribution and sewage services in Rio de Janeiro.
We have everything that investors are looking for: a large consumer market, excellent assets, a solid tradition of honouring contracts and confidence in our Government.
I also wish to announce that in the next few days, we will be holding an auction for the deployment of 5G technology in Brazil. Our modern, sustainable low- carbon agriculture currently feeds more than 1 billion people around the world while occupying only 8 per cent of our national territory.
No other country in the world has environmental legislation as comprehensive as ours. Our Forest Code sets an example for other countries to follow. Brazil is a country that is as vast as a continent, and it has great environmental challenges. It encompasses 8.5 million square kilometres, 66 per cent of which remains pristine and continues to have the same native vegetation it did in the early 1500s, when the country was discovered.
In the Amazon biome alone, 84 per cent of the forest is untouched and is home the greatest biodiversity on the planet. I note that the Amazon region covers an area equivalent to that of all Western Europe.
We moved up the target date, from 2060 to 2050, for attaining the goal of climate neutrality — net zero. Human and financial resources aimed at bolstering environmental agencies were doubled, with a view to fully eliminating illegal deforestation.
The results of this important initiative are already visible. In the Amazon region, we have seen a 32 per cent drop in deforestation in August compared to August of last year. What other country in the world has an environmental preservation policy like ours? All are invited to come and visit our Amazon.
Brazil today is already setting an example in energy generation, with 83 per cent of our energy coming from renewable sources. At the upcoming twenty- sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, we will pursue consensus on rules governing a global carbon credit market. We hope that industrialized countries will indeed fulfil their climate financing commitments in substantial amounts.
The future of green jobs lies in Brazil, in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, low-carbon industries, basic sanitation, waste management and tourism.
We have ratified the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance.
We believe that the traditional nuclear family is the very foundation of civilization and that the freedom of human being is made complete only with the freedom to worship and freedom of expression.
Fourteen per cent of Brazil’s territory, which represents over 110 million hectares — an area equivalent to Germany and France combined — is devoted to indigenous reserves. Those areas are home to 600,000 indigenous people, who live there in freedom and increasingly wish to use their lands for agriculture and other activities.
Brazil has always participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations, from the Suez to the Congo and from Haiti to Lebanon.
My country has always welcomed refugees. At our border with neighbouring Venezuela, Operation Welcome, conducted by the Federal Government, has already received and welcomed 400,000 Venezuelan citizens who were displaced due to the severe political and economic crisis bred by the dictatorship’s regime.
The future of Afghanistan also gives us cause for great concern. We will grant humanitarian visas to Afghan Christians, women, children and judges.
As we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the attacks against the United States of America on 11 September 2001, we reiterate our condemnation of terrorism in all its forms.
In 2022, Brazil will once again hold a seat on the United Nations Security Council. I wish to thank the 181 countries out of a total of 190 that trusted Brazil in that regard. It is the visible result of a serious and responsible foreign policy led by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We support the reform of the Security Council, where we seek a permanent seat.
The pandemic caught us all by surprise in 2020. We sincerely regret every death in Brazil and across the world. I have always advocated for fighting against both the virus and unemployment, at the same time and with the same sense of responsibility.
Isolation and lockdown measures left behind a legacy of inflation, particularly in relation to food prices, all over the world. In Brazil, in order to cater to those in need, forced to stay at home due to decisions taken
by governors and mayors and who lost their sources of income, we granted emergency relief compensation in the amount of $800 to 68 million people in 2020.
I wish to recall that we ended 2020, the year of the pandemic, with more formal jobs than was the case back in December 2019 thanks to the initiatives led by our Government, for example, programmes to ensure working conditions and income support, which have cost us nearly $40 billion. In the first seven months of this year alone, we created nearly 1.8 million new jobs. I also wish to recall that our growth rate forecast for 2021 is estimated at five per cent.
Thus far, the Federal Government has distributed more than 260 million doses of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines. More than 140 million Brazilian citizens have received at least the first shot, which accounts for almost 90 per cent of the adult population. Eighty per cent of the indigenous population has already been fully inoculated against COVID-19. By November this year, all citizens who choose to be vaccinated in Brazil will be duly covered. We support vaccination efforts; however, my Administration has not supported a vaccine or health passport or any other vaccine-related obligation.
Since the pandemic started, we have supported doctors’ professional autonomy in the quest for early treatment measures, in line with the recommendations issued by the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine. I myself underwent early treatment for COVID-19. Of course, we respect the confidentiality of the doctor- patient relationship with regard to decisions on the proper medication to be used, as well as the potential for off-label use. We cannot understand why many countries, along with a large portion of the media, took a stance against early treatment measures. History and science will certainly hold everyone accountable.
On 7 September, our national independence day, millions of Brazilians peacefully and patriotically took to the streets in the largest demonstration in our history to show that they will not give up on democracy or individual freedoms and to show their support for our Administration.
As I have outlined, Brazil is entering a new era. In terms of the economy, we are one of the best performers among emerging countries. My Administration has restored our foreign credibility and, today, Brazil is one of the best investment destinations in the world.
It is here at the General Assembly that we envision a world with greater freedom, democracy, prosperity and peace. May God bless us all.