São Paulo – Tunisia aims to expand relations with Brazil in several areas, like agriculture, tourism and trade. The objective is to diversify trade relations of the country, currently greatly focussed on Europe, especially France. “The government [of Tunisia] is extremely open to increasing its options. They no longer want to be dependent on France. They know Brazil well and that creates a great climate for business,” said Júlia Paz, International Business executive at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, who is in Tunis.
Paz and Tamer Mansour, the Governmental Relations director at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, are travelling in North Africa, on a route that began in Algeria and is yet to cross Morocco and Egypt, where they will meet representatives of governmental and private organisations to establish partnerships and foster trade relations between Brazil and the Arab countries.
The meetings in Tunisia began on Thursday (16) and ended on Friday (17). In a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, Paz and Mansour spoke to directors about the fruit and vegetable division. "They are interested in a partnership with Brazil to get our know-how in agricultural production,” said Paz. At the Tunisian Union of the Industry, Trade and Craft (Utica), the topic discussed included cooperation in the areas of marketing and for the fostering of bilateral trade. “They want to increase interaction between Brazilian and Tunisian industry,” she said.
At the Ministry for Cooperation for International Investment, the meeting was at the Secretariat for Foreign Investment. “Tunisia wants to diversify partners. It is interested in recognising the model for production of generic medication and also access to technologies for production of renewable energy,” pointed out Paz. At the Ministry of Tourism, the executives at the Arab Brazilian Chamber offered the organisation’s services to establish a bridge between the Tunisian organisation and Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), for joint promotion of tourist destinations in Brazil and Tunisia.
There were also meetings between with executives at the Chamber of Commerce of Sfax, the largest industrial hub in Tunisia, in which joint promotion of trade fairs was discussed. During a meeting at Cepex, the local export promotion agency, the topic discussed was the expansion of trade between both nations. The Arabs showed great interest in exporting products like phosphate, dates, wine and olive oil to Brazil, and in importing coffee, aeronautics products and agricultural machinery.
*Translated by Mark Ament
