GE to build research centre in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Jan 8 (IANS/EFE) General Electric has said that it plans to build a research and development facility in Brazil that will serve all of Latin America.

The announcement was made Thursday by company CEO Jeffrey Immelt after a meeting earlier in the day in Brasilia with Brazilian Science and Technology Minister Sergio Resende.

The Brazilian research centre, which will be GE’s fifth worldwide, will receive a portion of the $6 billion that the company currently invests annually in research at its R&D centres in the US, Germany, India and China.

“The announcement shows how important Brazil is to GE,” the top executive said.

Immelt said the company is analysing some potential sites for the centre and that states such as Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais are in the running.

He added that GE intends to hire local scientists and intellectual talent and transfer technology developed in other countries to the South American country.

The executive announced Wednesday that GE plans to invest $118 million this year in Brazil, including $50 million on a new medical and diagnostic equipment factory in Minas Gerais and $35 million on an airplane engine maintenance plant in Rio de Janeiro.

The other investments will be a $12 million locomotive factory in Minas Gerais and a $21 million deep-sea oil equipment plant in Rio de Janeiro.

After meeting the science and technology minister, Immelt announced that GE signed a $130 million deal this week for the sale of 50 locomotives to Brazilian company Cosan Combustiveis e Lubrificantes, part of the sugar and ethanol group Cosan Ltd.

Roughly 40 percent, or $3 billion, of GE’s Latin American revenue last year came from Brazil.

–IANS/EFE