São Paulo – Trade relations between Brazil and the Arab countries were addressed during lecture given by Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce CEO Tamer Mansour to approximately fifty first-term students of Foreign Relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) this Thursday (30) in São Paulo, Brazil.
The event also featured Afro Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (Afrochamber) director Valdemar Camata, who talked about the relations between Brazil and Africa, and Egypt’s commercial consul in São Paulo Mohamed Elkhatib on business, investments and tourism in Egypt, as well as the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the North African Arab country.
The lecture started with Camata’s speech, covering the entire African continent, then Mansour talked about the Arab countries, and then Elkhatib on Egypt.
“I talked about the negotiations with the Arabs and stressed the importance of the Arab world to Brazil, of Egypt to the Arabs, and of Egypt to Brazil, as well as the importance of international agreements, giving the example of the Mercosur-Egypt free trade agreement, which increased the country’s business with our region,” Mansour said.
The CEO also talked about the Arab Brazilian Chamber’s role in strengthening trade relations and cultural ties between the Arabs and Brazil. He mentioned the Arab young people and the Arab woman leadership. “Young people from 18 to 30 years old are the generation that makes most businesses in the Arab world, and it is important to understand too that the Arab woman is free to make business and assume a leading role in many countries in the region,” said Mansour, giving the example of the United Arab Emirates ambassadress in Brasília, Hafsa Abdulla Sharif Alulama, and the nomination of the first woman for the Saudi Arabia embassy in Washington, United States, Reema Bint Bandar.
Elkhatib answered a question about the Egyptian role at the new Silk Route, a global initiative promoted by China. “Egypt continues to be part of Silk Route from China to Europe, we are in the middle of two economic powers,” he told ANBA.
Mansour invited the students to visit the Arab Brazilian Chamber on Avenida Paulista, and specially its library, which has a collection of 2,000 in Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish and English. “I’d like the Arab Brazilian Chamber to become a reference for the Foreign Relations students on the Arab countries,” he said.
Elkhatib told that, at the end, the student presented the lecturers a book about FGV history.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
