U.S. Department of State Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Kurt Tong is traveling this week to Brazil where he will visit Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. In Rio de Janeiro, he will participate in a Panel Discussion entitled “Trade Modernization as Growth Drivers in the Americas” at the American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America Business Future of the Americas Conference taking place today, May 23. He will also meet with an economic think tank, trade organizations, and American business leaders.

In Brasilia, he will meet with the Ministry of External Relations to discuss foreign trade and information and communications technology issues. He will discuss the status of the pending bilateral Open Skies agreement with the Civil Aviation Secretariat and will meet with representatives of technology businesses and an economic think tank.

PDSA Tong is visiting Brazil to discuss ways in which the United States and Brazil can work together on expanding our bilateral trade in goods and services, which, in 2015, reached almost US$95 billion. Brazil is currently the United States’ 12th largest goods trading partner with U.S. imports of Brazilian goods totaling $27 billion in 2015. The United States is the top destination for Brazilian exports of valued-added manufactured goods; and, in 2015, the U.S. imported US$8.5 billion in Brazilian services