Thursday, July 19, 2012 – The sky is the beginning and not the limit – this will be the principle guiding steps to develop closer corporation between Saint Lucia and Brazil.

Saint Lucia`s Minister for External Affairs Honourable Alva Baptiste has successfully negotiated with the Government of Brazil who will during the first week of August, deploy technical teams to help Saint Lucia formulate a spectrum of policies for interventions in agriculture, education, trade, tourism, youth development, healthcare, environmental conservation and sports.

This was negotiated during historic bilateral meetings in Brazil between the External Affairs Ministers of Saint Lucia and Brazil.

As a follow up Minister Baptiste  played host to the Brazil Ambassador to Saint Lucia His Excellency Joaquim Whitaker Salles for a special meeting on Thursday July 19th ,2012.

A present the volume of  trade between Saint Lucia and Brazil is estimated at US$3 billion annually due to a contract between  the Brazilian Government owned Petrobrace and Hess Oil – making Saint Lucia  Brazil`s largest trading partner in the entire Caribbean.

The Brazilian Ambassador says his government wants to explore means for trade for the greater benefit of both countries.  “Trade between Brazil and Saint Lucia is really of significant volume that it causes people to be surprised and of course we want to diversify the trade between our two countries and the opportunities for this are there”.

Brazil is the largest country in South America and the world’s fifth largest country, making it a vital partner for a Small Island Developing State.