São Paulo – Secretaries-general of foreign Arab chambers of commerce, including the CEO of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, had their annual meeting this Friday (11th) in Paris, France. The main topic discussed was the diversification of services and revenues.
According to Alaby, Imad Shehab, the secretary-general of the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab Countries, organization that gathers the chambers, believes that the chambers should promote more events such as business matchmaking and fairs, besides producing more market research.
Shehab added that the online system of certification of origin and legalization of documents being implemented by the Brazilian chamber should be adopted by the other organizations, since it was already approved by the Union and the League of Arab States itself.
The representative of the Arab League’s Economic Department, Manal Mawafi, made the same recommendation, emphasizing that the technology provides reduction of time and costs for foreign exporters and Arab importers, improving the standard of services offered by the chambers.
Alaby gave an account of the system’s implementation process, which requires meetings with the embassies and customs authorities in each of the Arab countries before they become integrated, and stressed that diplomatic representations are displaying keen interest in the technology.
On the other hand, the chambers’ directors called on the Union and the League to insist that Arab countries’ Foreign Relations ministries only accept documents certified by chambers officially recognized by both multilateral institutions.
Shehab also pleaded for the chambers to publicize, in their own countries, the 17th Arab Investors and Businessmen Conference, set to take place in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates on November 16th and 17th. He also reported that three foreign Arab chambers have been established recently, in Malaysia, India and Turkey.
The meeting was also attended by delegates from Arab chambers in Germany, the United States, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Portugal, Switzerland, by the chairman of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Khalifa Bin Jassim Bin Mohamed Al Thani, the director of the Tunisian Union for Commerce, Industry and Handicrafts (Utica), Mohamed Sahraoui, the representative of Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ibrahim Foudah, the second vice president of Egypt’s Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, Ahmed Hassan Sharkas, and the General Union director Hoda Katchan.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani & Gabriel Pomerancblum
