São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) will hold a series of activities in 2023 to foster Brazil-Arab ties in cooperation with ambassadors from these states to Brazil. ABCC president Osmar Chohfi and secretary-general & CEO Tamer Mansour met with diplomats on Tuesday (14) in the headquarters of the Arab League in Brasília to present the activities held in 2022 and the planned activities for 2023.
The initiatives the ABCC will participate with the ambassadors later this year will include two missions to Brazilian states. The first one will be to Paraná in March. “For governmental and business networking,” Chohfi told ANBA. According to Mansour, the state of Paraná is an important partner of Arab countries in terms of imports, exports and investments. On these trips, the ambassadors are welcomed by local authorities and learn about the commercial traits of the stats, being able to discover opportunities for their countries.
Chohfi shared with the ambassadors the strategic projects the entity will develop later this year, with the promotion of the Ellos e-platform and the Halal do Brasil initiative. Ellos digitizes the foreign trade process via a blockchain tool called Easy Trade and is expected to evolve into other areas, such as product tracking. As for Halal do Brasil, the ABCC and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) work to widen the presence of higher value-added Brazilian foods in the global halal market.
The ambassadors expressed interest in getting to know more about Ellos. The platform has already been used in exports to Jordan, and Egypt has agreed to use it, too, but it is expected to cover all Brazilian trade with the Arab countries. The diplomats asked that, besides fostering Brazilian exports to the Arab market, the ABCC reinforces the work to boost Brazilian imports of Arab goods. In 2022, Brazil grossed USD 17.1 billion with sales to the Arabs, up 22.8%, while exports from Arabs to Brazil stood at USD 14.9 billion, up 52.6%.
The entire year’s calendar was also discussed, from trade promotion issues like the Arab participation in Brazil’s trade shows and exhibitions and vice versa to cultural issues. Chohfi said the ambassadors are very interested in collaborating with sociocultural activities to be held by the ABCC via the Arab House. “They’re all very willing to collaborate in both cultural and social initiatives,” he said.
Busy schedule
The ambassadors learned the activities scheduled by the ABCC. Through the Halal do Brasil project, Brazilians will be taken to trade shows and missions in halal consumer countries, and Brazilian firms will be offered trainings to cater to this market. Later this month, the ABCC will be at the food show Gulfood in the UAE and hold a startup mission to the UAE and Qatar. Arab companies will exhibit in the supermarket show Apas Show in Brazil, where the Global Halal Brazil forum is set to be held in October.
Arab ambassadors will accompany these and other activities. Mansour said they agreed to hold two annual meetings and send quarterly reports. “The ambassadors’ partnership and support are extremely important for the ABCC. We want them with us in this new phase of higher value-added halal trade and great technological innovations,” Mansour said.
The ABCC team is having a series of appointments in Brasília with government officials, diplomats and representatives of partner institutions. Besides Chohfi and Mansour, ABCC Institutional Relations director participates, too. She had a meeting at the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA), where she discussed support and collaborations with CAN International Relations director Sueme Mori Andrade and coordinator Rodrigo da Matta.
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Exhibition on Beirut
Chohfi and Mansour attended the opening of the exhibition “Beirut: The Road to Reframe” in the Black Room of the National Congress, which was also attended by ambassador Carla Jazzar, chargée d’affaires of the Embassy of Lebanon in Brasília. The show, held by the Embassy and the Congress, exhibits pictures by Lebanese photographer Dia Mrad showing the aftermath of the Beirut Port blast in 2020. The exhibition will run until March 10.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
