Representatives of the Instituto das Comunicações de Portugal (ICP) and the Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações do Brasil (ANATEL) will meet on 17 to 19 April to discuss the latest trends as regards regulation in both countries. The meeting will take place in Rio de Janeiro and will follow a series of other governmental level meetings of the administrations and operators of Portugal, Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries.
This will be the third ICP/Anatel meeting since the onset of closer contacts between the two administrations. Among other topics the agenda will include discussion on the quality of fixed and mobile operator services, interconnection, telephony on IP, the radio-electrical spectrum and equipment homologation.
The exchange of experiences between ICP and Anatel will not however be the only initiative in which ICP is to participate over the next few weeks. Brazil will also be hosting the IV Ministerial and Postal and Telecommunications Administration Meeting of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP). The "Institutional Aspects and the Development of Telecommunications in the Community Countries" serve as the opening theme and the start-up point for this meeting. This will also be a forum for discussion of other aspects common to the Seven, such as the possibilities of co-operation between the community countries and postal sector reform in the member states of the CPLP. This meeting will be held in São Salvador da Bahia on 13 and 14 of the current month of April.
The General Assembly and the VII Forum of the Association of Postal and Telecommunications Operators of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries and Territories (AICEP) will be held between 11 and 14 April. The event will take place in the same Brazilian city and the agenda will include points such as the possibility of co-operation among the community countries and the most recent developments within the scope of telecommunications, multimedia and postal services.
The XVII LUBRAPEX - the Portuguese-Brazilian Philatelic Exhibition Commemorating 500 years of the Discovery of Brazil, will also take place in São Salvador da Bahia on 11 April.
The Americas Telecom 2000, a sector trade fair organised by UIT - the International Telecommunications Union, will be held from 10 to 15 April. This fair is already being promoted as the most important event ever held in Latin America as regards telecommunications. Expectations seem to be duly justified, when we consider the potential of the Brazilian market and its most recent history: in mid 1998 the country ensued the biggest ever wave of privatisations and opened the way to the multiplication of Portuguese investments in Brazil.
