A top presidential aide and confidant, Wellington Moreira Franco, was named Sunday night to be Brazil’s new Minister of Mines and Energy. President Michel Temer’s office said Moreira Franco, 73, will take over the post from outgoing Minister Fernando Coelho Filho, who will seek election to Congress in October. Moreira Franco will give up his position as a top adviser to Temer, but he will retain his chairmanship of Brazil’s Investment Partnership Program (PPI), which oversees the government’s concessions and privatizations plan. Moreira Franco is a veteran politician, a long-time member of Congress, former Governor of Rio de Janeiro and a member of President Temer’s party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB). In his dual role as Minister and PPI Chairman, he will preside over auctions of oil-block rights, the partial privatization of utilities holding company Eletrobras and other concessions and privatizations.
Link to government news agency release
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