São Paulo – The CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, should be in Algeria and Tunisia next week to sign agreements for cooperation with local class associations. These agreements started being negotiated in February and have, as their main objective, the promotion of greater trade relations between Brazil and the Arab countries.
On Tuesday, Alaby will visit the Ministry of Agriculture of Algeria and the Algerian Export Promotion Agency (Algex), with which he will sign an agreement. On Thursday, the visit and the signing of a partnership will be at the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Caci). There, Alaby should sign an agreement to forecast the greater exchange of trade information between Brazil and Algeria and closer ties of businessmen from both countries. “We are going to try to supply their demand,” said Alaby.
The Algex objective with the agreement is to increase sales from Algeria to Brazil. In the negotiations in February, the institution has shown the intention of selling more food to Brazil, especially dates and olives.
On Thursday (26), Alaby and the governmental relations executive at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Tamer Mansour, should visit the Sfax Chamber of Commerce and industry, the largest industrial hub in Tunisia. On the following day, they will have meetings at the Tunisian Union of the Industry, Trade and Craft (Utica), at the Tunis Chamber of Commerce and at the Tunisian Centre for Promotion of Exports (Cepex). There should also be a visit to the Brazilian embassy in Tunis.
The Tunisians are seeking international partners outside the European continent and believe that Brazil may cooperate in the areas of tourism, agricultural development, production of generic medication and renewable energy technology. The agreements for exchange of information and greater trade relations will be signed between the Arab Brazilian Chamber and the Cepex and between the Arab Brazilian Chamber and the Tunis Chamber.
"The signing of these agreements are attempts at supplying a demand for further information [about countries and the products they buy and sell] and I believe that the effective results of this agreement should start to materialize within six months or a year,” said Alaby.
Brazilian exports to Algeria have been growing each year since 2000. In 2011, they totalled US$ 1.493 billion, growth of 78% over 2010. Among the main products exported by Brazil are other sugar cane sugars, soy oil, maize in grain, sugarcane sugar in bulk, meats and tobacco. Algeria exported US$ 3.136 billion to Brazil in 2011, mainly oil, naphtha and phosphates. Brazil’s trade deficit with Algeria last year was US$ 1.6 billion.
Bilateral trade with Tunisia, in turn, is favourable for Brazil. The country exported US$ 376.4 million in products in 2011 and imported US$ 104.4 million, generating a trade balance surplus of US$ 272 million. Among the main products exported are sugar and wheat. Among the imported products, in turn, the most prominent are plastics and chemical compounds.
*Translated by Mark Ament
