On Tuesday (21), Brazil and European Union representatives launched Phase IV of the Sector Dialogues project. This initiative takes the form of international cooperation to finance projects of common interest.

In this new stage, approximately € 5.7 million (in European and Brazilian funds) will be invested over a period of approximately three years. Priority areas in the next project selection process (9th call for projects) will be: air and sea transport; science and technology; information society, including e-government and innovation in the public sector; public procurement; human rights; and agriculture.

“These are examples of areas where we have much to learn. No one has the formula for success. On the contrary - we are constantly faced with the challenges of the 21st Century; the Sector Dialogues were designed so that we may exchange experiences," stated Ambassador João Cravinho, head of the European Union Delegation to Brazil.

In 2017, we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of this partnership. In the first three phases, over 200 actions were carried out on 30 different fronts. The total amount allocated to cooperation in recent years is € 16.9 million - € 11.6 million in European funding and € 5.3 million as a counterpart by the Brazilian government.

“These figures prove the success of this cooperation in various aspects of government action," said Gleisson Rubin, Secretary of Management at the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management (MP). In his opinion, managers will always be faced with two possibilities: they can either spend all their funds in trying to find solutions by themselves or they can seek inspiration in best practices and positive achievements from other contexts. “We are betting on the second strategy," he emphasised.