The great Brazilian factories will face a favorable situation to invest more in 2005 than in 2004. According to a research carried out recently by the Institute for Studies in aid of Industrial Development (Iedi), during the year of 2004 the great industrial companies in the country managed to reduce significantly their indebtedness level and, at the same time, increase their profitability.

Plasvale, a producer of plastic containers for household use, based in the city of Gaspar, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, exports its line of pots, bowls, buckets, clothes bins and dustbins to countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa as well as to Canada.

Brazilian ballerina Christiane Oliveira, from the northeastern state of Bahia, has no direct Arab ancestry, but ever since she learned the belly dance, she became so fascinated by the culture, that she opened the Casa Árabe Império de Nefis (Arab House Empire of Nefis) in Aracaju, capital of the northeastern state of Sergipe.

Speaking to journalists at the Palácio do Planalto, December 23, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made it clear: "Brazil is in a situation that is so comfortable we do not need another International Monetary Fund agreement."