MANAUS FREE TRADE ZONE
Social and Economic Development alongside environmental protection
Picture a place which is home to the largest rainforest on earth, offering huge potential for investment, especially in sectors such as tourism, agriculture, bioindustry, fish farming, manufacturing natural products and handicrafts, which can peacefully coexist alongside finished goods and high-technology inputs factories, thereby generating economic and social development while preserving the environment, to the benefit of the region’s inhabitants.
Such a place does exist, and it is increasingly establishing itself with each day that goes by. This place is the Manaus Free Trade Zone. A model for regional development comprised of the states of Amazonas, Acre, Roraima, Rondonia and the Macapa / Santana free trade area in Amapa state, which is highly competitive and well on the way to establishing itself on the world stage.
Manaus, the metropolis surrounded by the rainforest
The capital of Amazonas state, which is located in the central region of the Brazilian Amazon, is one of the fastest-growing Brazilian cities of the past few years. In 2003, Exame magazine declared this city to be the best city in the north of Brazil in which to live and invest. Its development to date is due to the creation of the Free Trade Zone and subsequent advances.
The Manaus Free Trade Zone
This is a model for economic development which was implemented in 1967 by the Brazilian government, with the aim of establishing an economic base in the Western Amazonian region and fostering better productive and social integration of this region with Brazil, thereby ensuring national sovereignty over its geographical borders. Thirty-eight years on, this model has been consolidated as a highly successful economic and social development strategy coupled with environmental preservation, focusing on raising living standards for the region’s inhabitants.
The Manaus Industrial Sector
The Manaus Industrial Sector (PIM), one of the largest and most important such sector in South America, underpins the Manaus Free Trade Zone. As a result of the developments which have taken place throughout its history, the project currently embraces a trade center and an agricultural district in the capital of Amazonas and projects are executed in the other states in the Western Amazonian region and the Macapa-Santana free trade zone entailing the production and generation of employment and income, through the rational usage of the region’s natural potential. With all the advances it has made, the Manaus Industrial Sector has made a decisive contribution to enabling Brazil to enter the international technology market, maintaining a model which yields economic and social development while preserving the Amazon’s environment.
The Manaus Industrial Sector contains over 430 established companies, has an average annual turnover exceeding USD 13.6 billion, and has generated some 90 thousand direct jobs and 350.000 indirect jobs in Manaus alone and over 20 thousand jobs in the region’s other states. These companies have achieved a level of competitiveness which can be used in the domestic market and can help Brazil further establish itself on the international market. The major companies hold ISO 9000 and 14.000 and OHSAS 18000 certification.
One of the most telling competitive advantages held by the Manaus Free Trade Zone model is its international-standard qualified labor, which is one of the most productive in several sectors and the most productive in the manufacture of television sets, video players and mobile phones, among other items.
Eco-friendly high-tech factories
This may come as surprise to many people, but the entire success enjoyed by the Manaus Free Trade Zone project to date has been achieved while maintaining high levels of environmental preservation. This is testified by the fact that Amazonas state preserves 98% of its native forests, which is a world record. This demonstrates that cutting edge technological advancement can be achieved alongside environmental preservation, paving the way for economically profitable, socially responsible and ecological in sound self-sustainability.
All the right conditions for successful investment
The Brazilian Federal Government ploughs considerable investment into infrastructure in order to provide all the means required by investors to set up their business undertaking in the Manaus Industrial Sector. In order to achieve this, investors are given access to plots of land sold for a token fee, water treatment and collection facilities, urban highway networks, water supply networks, telecommunications networks, sewage systems and rainwater drainage systems.
International advances
With annual average growth standing at over 20%, one of the best figures in Brazil, the Manaus Industrial Sector is currently focusing on raising the volume of exports. Suframa’s goal is to zero the Amazonas State balance of trade in 2007, with the prospect of posting a surplus thereafter.
Increasing levels of modernity and innovation
According to its responsibility for promoting investment, Suframa identifies regional potential, creates the conditions to transform this potential into business opportunities and encourages actions to stimulate the generation of technology and formation of intellectual property. The Manaus Industrial Sector currently counts on 18 local education and research institutions for educational and technological support, including graduation, specialization, Masters and PhD courses in strategic areas.
Suframa
The Manaus Free Trade Zone is overseen by Suframa, an institute associated with the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Suframa is responsible for administrating tax incentives and promoting investment. One of its duties is to identify economic options and attract business opportunities to the region, with the aim of generating employment and income. It is also responsible for awarding tax breaks to the companies located in the Manaus Free Trade Zone and for executing strategic actions to maintain the project’s sustainability. All of Suframa’s work concerning the Manaus Free Trade project and the Western Amazonian region are in line with the Brazilian governments strategy to develop the region, with an eye to economic growth, environmental preservation and living standards.
Tax advantages
The possibility to invest in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, and the entire Amazon, with its important track record of achievement, its economically competitive modern profile, social and environmental responsibility and vast potential, is in itself highly interesting for investors seeking success and with a eye to the future.
The Brazilian Federal Government offers investors looking to invest in the Manaus Free Trade Zone tax breaks which are more advantageous than those available in the rest of Brazil. Investors also gain through the state and municipal tax policies.
These comparative advantages, which include the reduction to and/or full or partial refund of and, in certain cases, exemption from federal, state and municipal taxes, are economic compensation for the decision taken by the population embraced by the free trade zone project to cease indiscriminately using the Amazon’s natural resources.
