São Paulo – Nine Arab authorities have confirmed attendance of the Brazil & Arab Countries Economic Forum on April 14 at Hotel Unique, São Paulo. Invitees hail from several countries and specialize in sectors including agriculture, tourism, trade, and industry. The event is designed to promote and enhance relations in trade and culture.
Dignitaries set to attend include Khaled Hanafy, secretary-general to the Union of Arab Chambers. The Arab League’s private sector arm, the Union comprises chambers of commerce and industry in Arab countries and elsewhere, including the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. A professor of Economics and International Business, Hanafy has served stints as Egypt’s minister of Supply and Internal Trade, chairman of the Internal Trade Development Authority, and dean of the College of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.
The holder of an MSc degree in Regional Development and a PhD in International Trade, he has led consulting projects for the Arab League, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, the International Labor Organization, and the the European Union. He is also a former Economic Advisor for the Egyptian Federation of Chambers of Commerce, and has provided consultancy services to several national and multinational organizations in fields including economics, fiscal logistics, supply chain and transportation, and marketing.
Arab League secretary-general and former Egyptian minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Aboul Gheit (pictured above) has also confirmed attendance. A politician and a diplomat, he joined the diplomatic corps in 1965 and rose through the ranks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving stints in Rome, Nicosia, Moscow and New York. In 1978, Aboul Gheit participated in negotiations of the Camp David Accords, which led to the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. In 1999, he was appointed Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations.
The event will also welcome Yousef Hasan Khalawi, CEO of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (ICCIA), composed of chambers based in Muslim nations. Khalawi specializes in international investment, management and development of family businesses and subsequent investments and non-profit business. He sits on the boards of directors of several companies around the world, as well as of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration. He is also a member of the boards of trustees of various international institutions, including the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions in Bahrain (AAOIFI Bahrain).
The Forum will also feature Egypt’s minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea. She was appointed secretary-General of the Social Fund for Development (SFD) in 2016. The following year she became CEO of the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise Development Agency, and executive director of Egypt’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSME).
Gamea is also a former chief of funding for small enterprises with the SFD. She graduated from the Faculty of Commerce at Cairo University and has 30 years’ experience in economics and financial affairs, having worked in the National Bank of Kuwait and the former National Bank of Development (NBD), since renamed Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB).
Other invitees include Jordan’s minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Majd Mohammad Shweikeh; and Sheikha Hessa Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, who chairs the Council of Arab Businesswomen.
Guests specializing in economics will include the likes of Samir Chaturvedi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, which operates 11 seaports and terminals in the UAE and Guinea, Africa; and Natheem Al Sabbah, secretary-general of the Arab Investors Award, which rewards Arab and Latin American businesses and individuals for relevant contributions to trade. The winner will be announced during the Forum.
Also slated to attend is Nidal Abou Zaki, the executive director with Orient Planet. One of the Middle East’s fastest growing consulting firms on PR and communication, Orient Planet has offices and affiliates throughout the Gulf, the Levant, and North Africa. Zaki is also secretary-general of the Lebanese Business Council in Dubai and Northern Emirates. A former alumnus of the Lebanese American University, he has done work in public relations and communications, including digital strategy, marketing, corporate social responsibility, and crisis management and communications.
Brazilian invitees whose presence has been confirmed include Rock in Rio music festival CEO Luis Justo and IBM director Fábio Rua. Some 1,000 participants are expected, including Brazilian and Arab government officials and delegates from organizations involved in agribusiness, infrastructure, technology, tourism, innovation, logistics, and halal products and services.
Panels will cover digital business, economically impactful events, sustainable development, and food security. Bilateral agreements are expected to be reached as the event unfolds.
Quick facts
Brazil & Arab Countries Economic Forum
Date: April 14, 2020, 8:30am
Venue: Hotel Unique (Avenida Brigadeiro Luís Antônio, 4700)
Register here
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
