Interview with Rui França, State Secretary of Communication

What is being done in Alagoas in terms of communication?

Our goal is to achieve a good level of trust, so that anyone can come here - whether it’s a tourist, a businessman or a resident who wants to live here. We have been working hard on developing Alagoas so that it has all the conditions necessary to offer the best opportunities to everyone.

How do you intend to achieve this improvement of the State’s image in order to attract more tourists and investors?

The investors who want to come here need security. They need to feel that there are people in our government who encourage them to have trust in the State. We have been participating in several discussions and in this way we have been presenting our State in São Paulo and other places. The Governor and the Secretary of Development have recently been to Portugal where they were presenting and discussing the opportunities and the potential of our State. Also, the Vice-Governor recently visited Canada with a mission to discuss certain partnerships and projects. For example, we went there to study their milk production system with the aim of creating a partnership to implement such system here in Alagoas.

The biggest challenge we are facing is to present the State as a viable State with a huge potential. We already faced decades of mistrust: people didn’t believe that Alagoas had any potential. We had to make the necessary adjustments to change this misperception. We created a politics of companies and the number of investors increased. As we started offering the necessary conditions people also started to believe in the State; they came here and we started to develop and grow. We had a specific communication strategy and we tried to build on that.

After having made the adjustments, we started talking to international organizations and the information about Alagoas began to spread: "the State has made adjustments", "there is now a certain degree of trust", "we obey the rules" etc. The State began to be guided by certain rules (which used to be non-existent in the past). If you put some rules in place, people will start believing these rule are going to be enforced and the State thus becomes more accessible to a larger audience. In terms of communication, we are trying to highlight the qualities of the State and at the same time, we are trying to communicate the ongoing development and progress of Alagoas.

What could the State give or offer in return regarding tourism? We now have an efficient road network, a modernized airport which is capable of receiving international flights and we have started with the implementation of a hotel network. Alagoas is close to Pernambuco which is a developing State and the conditions present in Alagoas and Pernambuco are exactly the same.

We have more investment coming in and the tourism sector has recently recorded a huge growth. We invested in sewage disposal services, cultural politics, gastronomy etc. All these conditions are being offered by both the State and the private sector together.

The results of these investments are quite visible today. However, you will be able to notice the real change within Alagoas only in two years from now.

The tourism image of Alagoas is very beautiful; the State has beautiful beaches, etc. Isn’t the State therefore more focused on tourism?

No, we are focusing on all different sectors.

What is the international image of Alagoas? How is the State perceived abroad?

Our heritage is a problem. Alagoas suffers a lot due to its politic past which has negatively influenced our image. We used to be a State without rules and that was something very negative and unpleasant. The largest investments that are being made now are not in the tourism sector. The majority of our investments - both already made and those planned for the future - is directed to other productive sectors of our economy. For example, an investment of over 1 billion Brazilian Reals was made into a PVC factory (Braskem) in the plastics sector. Now other factories have began to settle down here as a result of the Braskem factory. Many other companies are settling down here at the moment and the investments are huge. So, we aren’t just focusing ourselves on tourism. We are showing we have a potential in other sectors such as mining, cattle raising etc. We are creating what is necessary for people to come and establish their companies here in Alagoas. Tourism is very important, nevertheless it’s not the main focus of the state's investments.

The State of Alagoas has a good climate, people are welcoming and hardworking. With the solid rules in place, you feel very comfortable to stay or live here or even to help to further build the State.

What kind of tools do you use in order to improve and strengthen the international visibility of Alagoas? What instruments do you have and what else would you need?

We have a communication policy directed to attract visitors through the Secretariat of Tourism: we have our own documents (publications, brochures), we organize workshops, or we participate in various (tourism) events or exhibitions.

The purpose of the Secretariat of Economic Development is to attract investors. It requires more direct contact: negotiation rounds, exhibitions, an information exchange policy etc.

Actually, we have been using the internet a lot in order to cooperate with the Secretariat of Economic Development: we collect and provide most of the information online. There are also specific publications for specific markets – recently we’ve created marketing/advertising material for the soccer teams that are coming here in 2014. Maceió is also hosting the World Soccer Cup and we have now all the conditions necessary to welcome a soccer team that wants to train here.

What is your biggest dream? What would you like to achieve in two years' time?

The main goal is to establish proper and firm structures within the State, so that there are the right conditions to attract more investments. In this regard, we have a plan supervised by the Secretariat of Economic Development, which extends to 2022 (ten years).

We are progressing fast when it comes to erasing negative elements within the State - whether in terms of violence or infant mortality rates (which have already dropped dramatically).

Our goal is that Alagoas will take advantage of all opportunities that lie ahead of us. We also want Alagoas to be able to attract more investments and companies – this is the basis for the development of not only the State but also its people. We don’t want this growth to stop and that’s why there’s a plan that goes beyond this government. Once you have a policy of continuity – not necessarily with the same political group, you also have well-defined rules.

These are our aims: to reduce and eliminate the negative elements within our state, to improve the positive features – it generates employment, development and income for the population – so that in the end Alagoas will become a better State.