U.S.-Brazil Defense Industry Dialogue (DID) Working Groups Convene for Mid-Year Meeting Ahead of Third DID Set for April 2019
June 29, 2018This post contains external links. Please review our external linking policy.
Sam Boone is an intern in the International Trade Administration’s (ITA) Western Hemisphere Office. Raquel Silva is ITA’s Brazil Desk Officer
On June 26, the U.S.-Brazil Defense Industry Dialogue (DID) convened at the Brazilian Naval War College, in Rio de Janeiro, to further defense trade talks between the two countries. More than 135 representatives from the U.S. Government, U.S. defense and aerospace industry, Brazilian Government, and Brazilian defense and aerospace industry, representing approximately 31 U.S. and Brazilian companies and 15 U.S. and Brazilian agencies participated in the four working group meetings.
The U.S.-Brazil Defense Industry Dialogue holds its midyear working group meetings in Rio to finalize action plans and identify next steps.
This mid-year meeting celebrated the first in-person gathering of all the working groups following their creation in January. The working groups were created to more deeply focus and engage on concrete results for priority topics: Commercial Partnerships, Binational Cooperation, Space, and Defense Trade Policy.
Since its September 2016 launch, the DID has accomplished the following key milestones related to defense trade:
- Clarifying export controls to enable more streamlined access to each other’s markets
- Supporting companies interested in forming strategic business partnerships
- Relaunching talks on Space collaboration
- Conducting outreach on how recent how numerous military-to-military agreements can facilitate tech-transfer and defense trade
The DID hopes to use the momentum from the mid-year meeting to implement its action plans in anticipation of DID III (to be scheduled).
The DID was created with the purpose of attracting investment, identifying potential partnerships, and spurring technological transfer between both countries’ defense and aerospace industries. Industry partners in both countries work closely with agencies in both governments, including the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Defense, and Brazil’s Ministries of Defense and External Relations, to ensure coordination and representation from all DID stakeholders.
As the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere, the United States and Brazil maintain a robust bilateral trade relationship. In 2017, bilateral trade in goods totaled more than $66 billion. The United States exported $37 billion worth of goods to Brazil in 2017, making it the 10th largest export destination for U.S. products.
For more information about the DID, please visit the DID website.
Tradeology, the ITA Blog 