Adalnio Senna Ganem

Gov. Sonny Perdue will host an open press conference welcoming Adalnio Senna Ganem, new Brazilian consul general to Atlanta, in the north wing of the state Capitol at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6.

Mr. Ganem, currently the consul general in Miami, is to be transferred to Atlanta to establish the first Brazilian consulate in Georgia since the last mission closed following the 1996 Summer Olympic Games as part of an effort to ease economic stress in Brazil.

Since that time, the Brazilian community in Atlanta has grown and business ties have strengthened between the two regions, Jacobus Boers, a professor in Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business and former chair of the Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia, told GlobalAtlanta.

Consul General for Argentina to Atlanta and longest-serving consul in the city, Carlos Layus, said that the opening of the consulate will help strengthen ties between Georgia and one of South America’s most important countries.

“It will confirm the international image that Atlanta holds in different parts of the world,” he said, adding that the establishment of consulates helps to promote business and cultural exchanges between different parts of the world.

David Bruce, a Robinson College professor and also former chair of the Brazilian Chamber, said that Georgia is already home to a number of operations by Brazilian companies and that the opening of a consulate could attract future investment.

He added that the state could benefit from Brazil’s advancement in developing ethanol.  Mr. Bruce said that the South American nation is among the world’s leaders in developing ethanol from sugar cane, and similar methods could be used to create alternative energy sources from Georgia’s pine trees.