Pimentel leaves ministry and Dilma confirms Borges

Paulo Victor Chagas – Reporter for Agência Brasil

President Dilma Rousseff announced that Fernando Pimentel will leave his post as Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. In his place, economist Mauro Borges, current president of the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), was announced to assume the position on an interim basis.

According to an official statement, Dilma accepted today (13) Pimentel's resignation request. He is expected to run for governor of Minas Gerais for the PT. "The president thanked Fernando Pimentel for his dedication, competence and loyalty in leading the MDIC [Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade] over the past three years."

This is the first time the leadership of the ministry has changed in Dilma's government, as Pimentel has held the position since 2011. ABDI, where Mauro Borges was previously located, is linked to the MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade) and is responsible for implementing the government's industrial policies, acting as a mediator between the public and private sectors.

With an academic background focused on regional economics, Mauro Borges Lemos is a full professor in the Department of Economic Sciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). He assumed the presidency of ABDI in 2011, a position he holds concurrently with the executive secretariat of the National Council for Industrial Development (CNDI), an entity also linked to the MDIC (Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade).

Mauro Borges is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and president of the Board of Directors of the Belo Horizonte Technology Park. With postdoctoral studies at the University of Illinois in the United States and the University of Paris in France, the newly announced minister also served as executive secretary of the National Association of Graduate Centers in Economics.