São Paulo – The ambassador of the Arab League in Brazil, Nacer Alem, paid many compliments to the work of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday (26) evening in São Paulo. “Without a doubt the Arab Chamber is our strategic partner in the relations of the Arab nations with Brazil,” he told ANBA in a farewell dinner offered by the organization to the diplomat, who’s leaving his post to return to Cairo, where the League’s headquarters is located. “The League doesn’t recognize all of the chambers of commerce, and there are many chambers out there,” he added.
The Arab Chamber is the sole organization in Brazil authorized by the League to issue certificates of origin for exports to the Arab countries and to certify export documents from Brazilian companies to the region.
“Since I arrived in Brazil (2015), the Arab Chamber lent a strong support to me, personally, to my family and to the League’s mission,” remarked the ambassador in his speech. “This support made this mission that much easier, and the Chamber is, in fact, the first partner of the mission [of the League in Brazil]”, he pointed out.
According to the diplomat, the Arab League wishes to keep the Arab Chamber as its main partner in Brazil and expand the Chamber’s field of action to other countries in Latin America, “in view of its experience and professionalism.”
Proof of this trust, according to him, is that since 2005 the Chamber has organized the South American side of the business forums that always take place simultaneously to the South American-Arab Countries Summit (ASPA). The last edition was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2015.
Furthermore, the League authorized the organization to coordinate the creation of the South American Federation of Arab Chambers of Commerce, formally founded in April of this year, at the Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum, in São Paulo, an event organized by the Arab Chamber.
The League also endorsed and took part in the Brazil-Arab Countries economic forums organized in Brazil by the Arab Chamber, in 2016 and this year, the latter with the participation of the assistant secretary general for economic affairs of the multilateral organization, Kamal Hassan Ali.
Nacer Alem added that the League’s secretary general himself, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, met with Arab Chamber’s president, Rubens Hannun.
Hannun, in turn, said that the ambassador has been supporting the work of the Arab Chamber, which has helped to open doors every time that the Arab Chamber’s representatives visited the headquarters of the multilateral organization in Cairo and that he gave his unconditional support to the economic forums organized in 2016 and 2018. He pointed out that the Chamber also took part as an observer in the League’s economic summit.
“Not to mention the support of the League for the creation of the South American Federation and the role that the League handed to us for the coordination of the South American participation in ASPA’s business forums,” said Hannun. He thanked the ambassador also for his commitment in keeping open the League’s representation in Brasília.
Nacer Alem pointed out too that during his period in Brazil took place the signing of a bilateral agreement for political consultation between the League and Brazil, which already resulted in two meetings to discuss political and economic issues and topics of the international agenda, one in 2016 and another this year. He also revealed that during the UN General Assembly in New York, in September, a meeting between ministers from South America and the Arab countries will take place.
From the Arab Chamber, attended the dinner the CEO, Michel Alaby, the president of the Management Council, Walid Yazigi, the directors of Market Intelligence, Tamer Mansour, and Investments, Daniel Hannun, the vice presidents Ruy Cury (Foreign Trade), Osmar Chohfi (Foreign Affairs), Riad Younes (Marketing), Adel Auada (Management), the former president Orlando Sarhan, and the directors Willian Atui, Sami Roumieh, Mohamed Abdouni, Mohamed Mourad and Cláudia Yazigi.
Last week, the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil held a farewell dinner to Alem, during the visit of Arab and African diplomats to Salvador, Bahia, as reported by ANBA.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
