São Paulo – The new president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Salim Taufic Schahin, was honoured last week by the Council of Arab Ambassadors to Brazil, during a luncheon offered in Brazilian capital Brasília. The dean of the council, ambassador Yousuf Al Usaimi, of the United Arab Emirates, offered all the collaboration necessary to further improve the Chamber’s relations with the diplomats.
According to Usaimi, the council and the Chamber should renew their ties to generate even closer ties between Brazil and the Arab nations. Schahin spoke of the importance of bilateral trade and cultural relations and said he plans to show Brazil to the Arabs and to promote to Brazilians the contribution of Arab culture to humanity.
Schahin pointed out that it is also part of the Chamber’s objectives to support relations between the government of Brazil and the Arab world and the governments and chambers of commerce of the Middle East and North Africa in exchange with Brazil.
The ambassador of Saudi Arabia, Mohamad Amin Kurd, pointed out that relations should advance beyond trade and include bilateral investment. He defended the signing of treaties for reciprocal promotion and protection of investment and to avoid dual income tax on profit originating from investment.
In this sense, the president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber pointed out that there are great investment opportunities in Brazil, especially in the areas of infrastructure, agribusiness and tourism. He added that the organisation plans, together with the government of Brazil, to promote road shows of these opportunities in Arab capitals.
In turn, the ambassador of Tunisia, Seifeddine Cherif, recalled the trade mission to North Africa headed by the minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Miguel Jorge, in late January. The diplomat recalled that he received news from his country about many contacts made with Brazilian businessmen. Apart from Tunisia, the delegation also visited Libya, Algeria and Morocco. Schahin, was on the delegation, said he was greatly impressed with the potential of the region and added that minister Miguel Jorge was very pleased.
The ambassador of the League of Arab States, Bachar Yagui, placed the organisation’s offices in Brazilian capital Brasília at the disposal of the Arab Brazilian Chamber. Schahin defended dialogue with diplomats to develop new operation strategies.
The business attaché of the embassy of Syria, Ghassan Obeid, defended the production of economic newsletters and the promotion of a Brazilian trade mission to Syria in the sidelines of the next Damascus International Fair.
The luncheon also included the ambassadors of Kuwait, Waleed Al Kandari, of Qatar, Jamal Nasser Al Bader, of Algeria, M’hamed Achache, of Mauritania, N’diaye Kane, of Jordan, Ramez Goussous, and of Sudan, Omer Salih Abubakr, the business attachés of the embassies of Iraq, Hussein Ali Al-Rawmah, and Morocco, and Arab Brazilian Chamber vice presidents Rubens Hannun (Marketing) and Wladimir Freua (Foreign Trade), the organisation’s secretary general, Michel Alaby, and director Mustapha Abdouni.
Sudan
Also in Brasília, Schahin, Alaby and Abdouni visited the embassy of Sudan for a meeting with the governor of the state of Khartoum, Abdulhalim Almutaafi, who headed a Sudanese delegation to Brazil last week.
According to ambassador Abubakr, the mission from Sudan came to Brazil at the invitation of the state of Mato Grosso to learn about agricultural production in the country. In the state in the midwest of Brazil, Almutaafi visited beef and dairy cattle, soy and cotton farms. The country in Africa wants to incorporate Brazilian know how to expand its agricultural production.
In the Federal Capital, the Sudanese businessmen had a meeting with members of the board at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and invited representatives at the organisation to visit their country. In the outskirts of Brasília, the governor visited soy and tomato farms.
In São Paulo, Almutaafi met with businessmen in different sectors to discuss the business opportunities in his country.
Kuwait
Previously, also in the Brazilian capital, Schahin, Alaby and Mustapha participated in the celebrations of the national day of Kuwait, organized by the embassy. Officially celebrated on February 25th, the date marks the anniversary of the independence of Kuwait, which took place in 1961, and the 18 years of liberation from Iraq.
The ambassador of Kuwait, Waleed Al Kandari, spoke about the advances in trade relations with Brazil, which rose from US$ 350 million in 2007 to US$ 650 million in 2008. He pointed out that last year he visited different Brazilian states to discuss trade and investment opportunities.
The diplomat pointed out that his country, through the Kuwaiti Fund for Social and Economic Development, has been offering funds to other countries for projects in the infrastructure and social areas and added that his nation turns 2% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to international aid, above the 0.7% recommended in the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations (UN).
Kandari also spoke about the Arab economic and social development meeting, promoted in Kuwait in January. At the meeting, the topics discussed included measures to speed up economic integration of the region to face the consequences of the global economic crisis. At the occasion, the government of the country offered US$ 500 million to the newly formed Arab Development Fund, which represents one quarter of the institution’s initial capital. The fund was established to support the small and medium companies of the Arab countries.
*Translated by Mark Ament
