Read the interview below entitled “Reason with him” so as to answer questions 27 to 30:

Reason with him
Source: www.newsweek.com
22nd Sep, 2009 (Adapted)

Question (Q) 1: Margolis: When you took office, Brazil was regarded as an underachiever, and the last among the BRIC nations. Now Brazil is considered a star among emerging countries. What´s happened?

Lula: No one respects anyone who doesn´t respect themselves. And Brazil always behaved like a second-class country. We always told ourselves we were the country of the future. But we never transformed these qualities into anything concrete. In a globalized world you cannot sit still. You have to hit the road and sell your country. So we decided to make strengthening Mercosul (the South American trading bloc) a priority, and deepened our relations with Latin America in general. We prioritized trade with Africa and went into the Middle East aggressively. Our trade balance today is diversified. This helped us cushion the blow of the economic crisis.

Q2: Margolis: Has Brazil´s success in navigating the economic crisis changed investors´views?

Lula: There was no miracle. We had a strong domestic market. We had consumers who wanted to buy cars. We reduced part of the sales tax and asked the companies to offer consumers credit on affordable items. It´s the same case with refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, and with computers and the housing construction.

Q3: Margolis: What are the lessons for other countries?

Lula: The great lesson is that the state has an important role to play, and has great responsibility. We don´t want the state to manage business. But it can be an inducer of growth and can work in harmony with society.