Departures
FLYING TO...
...The BRIC countries
IN AN age of acronyms, one in particular spells the future, according to economists, writes Colin Ellson. Once they would refer to ‘tiger economies’, particularly in South East Asia, as the shorthand for growth. But the term has fallen from favour, the description proving hollow in the long-term as the tiger nations lost their roar and the balance of financial power began to shift. Today, the buzz word is BRIC – the initials of Brazil, Russia, India and China, the fastest- growing and largest emerging markets in the world. Together, they add up to a staggering population of some three billion people, or around half the earth’s population, and have contributed to the majority of global GDP growth. The idea to group these disparate nations together was dreamed up by worldwide investment bankers
Goldman Sachs, and according to various economists’ forecasts, they are right on the money. It is only a question of time, they say –- between 2030 and 2050 – that China will become the world’s biggest economy. Some analysts believe that by working in cooperation the Big Four can carve out the future global economic order, China dominating in manufactured goods, India in services, and Russia and Brazil in raw materials. Others say that while they are increasingly trading with each other, the door is not shut to the rest of the world, and relations with the EU and the US are still vitally important. For UK plc, this translates into business opportunities: Russia and Brazil are encouraging inward Western investment, and the huge hunger for consumer goods in India and China cannot yet
be satisfied by domestic producers alone. Flying to do business in these culturally different markets is the relatively easy bit. All the main cities in the quartet are well served from the UK, and there are good domestic links if you need to go up country. From the rainforests of Brazil to the Russian steppe, from China’s inscrutable persona to India’s colour and charisma, it will be a journey to remember.
Brazil Brasilia Brazil’s purpose-built capital city came to fruition in the 1950s and now has an economy based mainly on servicing the government, communications, banking and finance. There are no direct services from the UK or continental Europe to the Brazilian capital. This means connecting with a domestic flight at the main gateways of Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, or flying via a US hub, with Delta from Atlanta or American from Miami.
80 I THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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