São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation (FUNAG) on Tuesday (19) in Brasília. The cooperation agreement was signed by ABCC president and diplomat Osmar Chohfi and FUNAG president and ambassador Márcia Loureiro. Pictured above, Loureiro (L) and Chohfi (R).
According to information made public by FUNAG, the MoU provides for a collaboration in research, studies, and academic activities in areas of common interest like bilateral relations and diplomatic history, trade and investment, science, technology and innovation, sustainable development, and energy.
The foundation says that these topics will be the subject of symposiums, seminars and publications in order to increase the mutual knowledge between the Arab countries and Brazil, thus providing the public agents with information that will be useful for policymaking. According to FUNAG, an exchange of good practices is also planned for enhancing the digital strategies of the foundation and the ABCC.
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FUNAG is a think tank affiliated with Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that’s focused on developing thoughts in topics related to diplomacy and international relations, from the foreign policy to energy, environment and other topics in the international agenda. Part of its operations include the dialogue with similar entities in Brazil and elsewhere and publishing books by national and foreign authors.
Chohfi explains that the MoU is a framework agreement that lays down cooperation possibilities and that this partnership with FUNAG will give rise to webinars, seminars, connections between the Arab and Brazilian academic world, coeditions, translations of Arab authors into Portuguese that could be published by FUNAG or Brazilian authors into Arabic to be spread in the Arab League states.
Chohfi says that the multidimensional agreement will reinforce the operations of the ABCC in the cultural area and allow for the institution to get closer to the academic world via a prestigious institution like FUNAG. “This will give an opportunity for cooperation and a deeper understanding for the ABCC of how it can further the talks on Brazil-Arab relations,” Chohfi told ANBA.
He believes that the cooperation with FUNAG can blaze new trails for the ABCC to refine its operations in the area. “Above all, I believe that in a country like ours, where there’s still little knowledge about the Arab world in political science and international relations, this agreement with FUNAG will allow us to get closer to these entities that think the contemporary world in different aspects,” the ABCC’s president explains.
The signing of the memorandum took place in the headquarters of FUNAG and was attended by representatives from both institutions, including ABCC secretary-general & CEO Tamer Mansour. Earlier this month, the FUNAG’s president visited the ABCC headquarters in São Paulo.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
