General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt announced on Thursday (Mar. 27) during a meeting with president Dilma Rousseff that the international company plans to increase its participation in the Brazilian market.

“We’ve adopted a long-term vision regarding Brazil, and we expect there will be very soon a growth in the level of investments GE has been making in the country. We regard Brazil as one of the main strategic partners in the future economy,” Immelt declared after the meeting.

Immelt further mentioned that the recent downgrading of Brazil’s economy by ratings agency Standards & Poor’s does not change the company’s plans for the country.

GE’s plan encompasses investments from 2011 to 2016 totaling $1.3 billion in all the company’s areas of operation in the country, including a new turbine repair center.

Among the investments is the construction of a GE research center in Rio de Janeiro, the company’s fifth in the world. It is estimated to cost $219 million and will work with the collaboration of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The center is expected to start its operation this year.

The Brazilian unit will conduct research in the fields of oil and gas, electric energy, aviation, railway transport and healthcare. GE expects the center to have 100 employees, 80 of whom researchers.