São Paulo – The Arab Ambassador Council in Brasília should visit Bahia this week to discuss business opportunities between the state and the Arab countries. Meetings are scheduled with state governor Jaques Wagner, the mayor of state capital Salvador, Antônio Carlos Magalhães Neto, businessmen and they should also visit the petrochemical hub.
According to the dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors, the Palestinian Ibrahim Alzeben, the trio should offer an opportunity for Arab representatives to improve relations of their countries and Bahia. “We are going to make contact with local businessmen and improve diplomatic and trade relations,” he said.
To Michel Alaby, CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, which is promoting the trip in partnership with the Council of Ambassadors, these visits provide a chance to discuss partnerships. “The visit of Arab ambassadors should open an opportunity for the state in terms of trade, investment in tourism and we are going to present the Arab countries to businessmen in Bahia,” he said.
Apart from the meetings with the governor of Bahia, the mayor of Salvador and the visit to the petrochemical hub, the diplomats should also participate, on Thursday (31), in the Bahia –Arab Countries Economic Forum at the Federation of Industries of the State of Bahia (Fieb). According to Alzeben, the seminar is an opportunity for the ambassadors and businessmen to discuss partnerships in detail. He said that some countries with which Bahia already has exchange are interested in offering more products, especially in the sectors of fertilizers and petrochemicals.
The superintendent of Economic Development at the Secretariat of Industry, Trade and Mining of Bahia (SICM), Paulo Roberto Britto Guimarães, said to ANBA that Bahia is interested in partnerships with other Arab countries and that the visit of the Arab ambassadors to the state may open these opportunities.
“On our side, there is much interest in investment in the sectors of oil and petrochemicals, energy and infrastructure,” he said. Guimarães also said that, if Arab countries wish it, Bahia has companies that may be partners in sectors like agroindustry, energy and petrochemicals.
This is the third visit by the Council of Arab Ambassadors to a Brazilian state. In March, they visited Goiás and in May, Rio Grande do Sul. In 2012, they visited Paraná and Rio de Janeiro.
From January to September this year, Bahia had revenues of US$ 71.75 million with exports to the Arab countries. Seeds and fruit, grain, industrial or medicinal plants, and hay and leaves were some of the main products sold and answered to US$ 34 million. They were followed by meats, which totalled US$ 10.8 million. Exports this year are 15% greater than they were from January to September last year, when they had totalled US$ 62.39 million. The main client for Bahia in the region is Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Egypt.
From January to September this year, Bahia imported US$ 829,500 from the Arab countries. The main suppliers were Algeria, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and the main products imported were fuels and mineral oil.
*Translated by Mark Ament
