São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce plans to work alongside Brazil’s new administration to strengthen the country’s ties with the Arab world. The organization wants to present to president-elect Jair Bolsonaro a study on the potential of increasing trade with the region.
“We agree with the new administration’s stance of developing production, agribusiness, infrastructure, and we want to seize to opportunity to show the potential of the Arab world,” Arab Chamber president Ruben Hannun told ANBA this Monday (5).
The goal is to present the study during the transition process still, before the new president’s inauguration, in January 1st, 2019. The study was conducted before the election campaign, with the aim to present it to the winner of October’s elections, regardless of the result.
The research includes the history of the economic relations between Brazil and the Arab countries, the potential for growth and new proposals for actions to be taken in the coming years. The Arab Chamber estimates that the country’s exports to the region could reach USD 20 billion until 2022, against the USD 13.6 billion registered last year.
“As a bloc, the Arab world is the second largest buyer of Brazilian agribusiness products, trailing only China,” reminded Hannun. “A planning is necessary to increase the share of high added-value items and halal-certified goods in exports,” he added.
The executive pointed out that the halal market, of products suitable for Muslim consumption, is a niche of huge potential to Brazilian exporters not only in Arab nations, but also in Islamic countries. “The Arabs themselves want to increase purchases from Brazil, since they see the country as a large and reliable suppliers of halal products,” he said.
Brazil has become the largest supplier of halal animal protein, particularly beef and poultry, which reveals the importance of the Arab and Muslim countries to this production chain.
Hannun also emphasized that Arab investors are interested in Brazil, particularly in infrastructure, the a priority sector for the new administration. He pointed out that Arab nations’ sovereign funds hold 40% of all the assets controlled by funds around the world.
“Investments in infrastructure allow, for instance, a more efficient outflow of production, which benefits them (the Arabs),” said Hannun. Since they are not self-sufficient in food production, Arab countries rely on imports and see Brazil as a preferred partner to ensure food security for their populations. “We will reach these goals by working together,” said the executive.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani