Bioeconomy and the Amazon region were at the centre of the debate with representatives from 36 strategic countries that compose the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The members discussed the public and economic policies that guide them. Embrapa researchers and partner institutions went to the headquarters of OECD, in Paris, at the beginning of September, to present the contributions of scientific researchers related to agricultural sustainability and bioeconomy. The seminar “Brazil and Portugal building a sustainable economy", was held by OECD as a part of a programme that alluded to the 200 years of Brazil’s Independence, which counted on the presence of 80 representatives from the countries that compose the organisation. According to ambassador Carlos Márcio Cozendey, Brazil’s representative with the International Economic Organisations in Paris, as the OECD performs an important role by promoting policies and standards based on evidence, aimed at strengthening sustainable economic growth and improving living conditions, nothing can be more opportune than presenting the Brazilian experience in activities that try to hold the balance among environmental, social and economic issues. “With this debate, we tried to show, for example, that the fight against deforestation will be more successful if it includes the appreciation of forestry products, and job and income generation for local populations”, he affirms. In this context, the Amazon region was one of the main focuses, and the Embrapa researcher, Ana Euler, who has worked for about 20 years in the region and composes the Embrapa’s Amazon Portfolio Management Committee, presented new perspectives on environmental sustainability and bioeconomy in the region. “Adding value to forestry products has the potential of benefiting around 750,000 families, including indigenous peoples, traditional communities and rural workers who live in the region. Integrating the ancestral knowledge of these peoples with science is the main path to keep the forest standing, promote human well-being and the sustainable development of the Amazon. Creating opportunities for people who live in Amazon is the best way to face current problems in the region”, she affirmed. Açaí Produced by around 200,000 farmers from the Brazilian Amazon biome, açaí is a symbol of the region and reached the international market in the past years. Its production also occurs in other countries by the Amazon River, such as Suriname and in French Guiana (ultramarine territory of France). The fruit is one among other hundreds of other products of the region, which nowadays has an appreciated economic value. But there is still a lack of technical information to lay the foundation for action and public policy. “We do not know how much is produced or consumed, or even the cross-border açaí trade routes, for example, in these neighbour countries that compose the Guyana plateau region”, Ana Euler states. One of the presentations of the OECD meeting was about the “Açaí Ação” (Açaí Action) project, coordinated by the Agronomic Centre International Cooperation for Development (Cirad), which has experience in cross-border cooperation involving Embrapa. The initiative promotes capacity-building in technological innovation for participants of the Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) production chain in the French Guiana, Suriname, and the Brazilian states Amapá and Pará. “Discussing aspects related to bioeconomy, including the presentation of a successful international cooperation such as “Açaí Ação” helps to show the complexity of the challenge of sustainability in forestry in Brazil”, Cozendey affirms. For the Cirad researcher Nathalie Cialdella, açaí is an ideal pretext for regional cooperation and shared knowledge-building among the people of the three countries of the region, that is, between actors in the production chain or from the scientific arena. “Because it is a product with a cultural meaning as food and has large economic potential, once certain precautions of sustainability of production, quality of transformation and chain governance are approached in the project”, she affirms. The participants in the OECD meeting included the President of Embrapa, Celso Moretti; the Secretary of Innovation, Rural Development and Irrigation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa, Portuguese acronym), Cleber Soares; and researchers from Cirad (France) and Portuguese educational institutions. OECD OECD has the goal of studying, assessing and promoting issues in public policy to improve many areas, such as economy, environment and technologies. For that purpose, member countries exchange knowledge to be integrated into the organisation. It aims at an intergovernmental economy to stimulate economic progress and also world cooperation in trade among the countries affected in the World War II period. Currently, it counts on 36 country members. Founded in 1961, it has its headquarters in Paris and has succeeded the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OCEE), which was created in 1948.