São Paulo – This Thursday (21st) in Beirut, the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon signed a cooperation agreement to establish closer ties between the two organizations, in order to facilitate commercial promotion actions between Brazil and Lebanon.
“The agreement comes to strengthen the direct relations between the two chambers and to place Brazil-Lebanon relations on closer grounds,” said the Arab Brazilian Chamber director Mustapha Abdouni, who represented the Chamber during the document’s signing. Mohammad Lamaa, the vice president of the Beirut Chamber, attended the meeting, alongside other members of the Beirut chamber board.
The terms of the document were first discussed in 2011 during the Project Lebanon construction fair. The Brazilian embassy helped promote the negotiations that preceded the closing of the deal. Thus, in addition to Abdouni, the signing ceremony was also attended by the Lebanese ambassador to Lebanon, Paulo Roberto da Fontoura, and other diplomats from the embassy, such as the head of the political sector, André Mourão, and the head of the Commercial Promotion sector, Rodolfo Ribeiro.
“The agreement is an institutional watershed. Following it, the two chambers can exchange information and statistical data. It should also optimise commercial promotion for Brazil in Lebanon and for Lebanon in Brazil,” said Ribeiro in a telephone interview to ANBA. “This lays the foundation for Brazil and Lebanon to sign other trade agreements,” he says.
According to him, other important issues were discussed at the meeting in Beirut, such as facilitating the visa issuance process for Lebanese businessmen to go to Brazil, the possibility of signing a free trade agreement between Lebanon and the Mercosur, the resumption of talks for a Beirut-São Paulo air route, and Petrobras’ interest in investing in offshore gas exploration in Lebanon. “The signing of this agreement is a breath of fresh air into the Brazil-Lebanon commercial,” said Ribeiro.
According to Mustapha Abdouni, the Beirut Chamber officials showed interest in organising a trade mission to Brazil.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
