Created in 1996, the Brazilian Business Coalition (CEB) came into being as a response from the businessmen to the need for greater influence and participation in defining Brazilian strategies for international insertion. As its Executive Secretariat comes under the responsibility of CNI, this entity presents an informal structural model that makes it open to voluntary participation of business organizations and companies from any economic sector.

CEB nowadays comprises over 170 business organizations.

The group was formed in order to coordinate the processes that enable the business sector to exert influence in the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), but in fact the efforts made went far beyond . CEB actively contribute by putting forward suggestions to the Brazilian Government concerning the foreign trade, outstanding among them: the recommendations made for the agenda of the Doha Round - talks under the aegis of the World Trade Organization (WTO); suggestions for negotiations between  Mercosur and  European Union; and for initiatives regarding Mercosur's external agenda. It is currently cooperating with the works being undertaken by the Brazilian Section of the Mercosur-European Union Business Forum (MEBF).

25 members representing top-level business organizations and sectoral entities with notable participation in Brazilian Foreign trade make up the Strategic Guidance Council, the CEB's most high-level consultancy body. It has the following functions and responsibilities:

• To formulate strategies for expanding the business sector's influence on Brazilian stances in international trade negotiations;
• To play a leading role in representing the interests of the Brazilian business community in international trade negotiations;
• To stimulate entrepreneurial qualification of business representatives participating in international trade negotiations;
• To ensure that the CEB effectively represents the widest possible range of business interests by mobilizing businessmen and corporate entities from all sectors interested in the negotiations;
• To put the business  position and recommendations before the Ministers of State involved in the negotiations; and
• To represent the CEB in the most important international forums.