Abu Dhabi – Brazil and the United Arab Emirates plan to prepare a new plan to generate a leap in bilateral relations. The theme was discussed on Thursday (16), in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Arab country, by the crown prince of the emirate, Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Development, Industry and Foreign Trade minister Fernando Pimentel, who is leading the trade mission to the Middle East.
Pimentel delivered to the prince a letter from president Dilma Rousseff inviting his brother, the president of the Emirates, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to Rio+20, a UN environmental conference about the to take place in Brazil, in July. Khalifa is visiting Turkmenistan.
Mohammed is also the deputy supreme commander of the armed forces of the country and chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi. "[The prince] suggested work for the next two or three years, the promotion of a more global plan, a strategic project that may set the fund’s backdrop for trade and cooperation agreements with specific targets for cooperation in tourism, investment and trade,” said Pimentel to ANBA.
To the prince, it is possible to generate a leap in relations, as was the case with Australia, a country with which the Emirates stipulated a similar strategy. Trade between both nations climbed to US$ 10 billion a year, whereas transactions with Brazil totalled US$ 2.65 billion in 2011.
"And in Brazil we have a stronger identity with the Arabs,” said Pimentel, referring to the great community of Arab origin in Brazil. The president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Salim Taufic Schahin, who participated in the event, gave details about the influence of the Arab colony in several activities, like politics, economics, medicine, education and culture.
Pimentel added that there is “great interest” from both governments in the results of the talks and in the formation of proposals for the plan. "We have an open door, and we need to cross it,” said the minister.
Mission to Brazil
In practice, initiatives in this respect started during the mission itself. On Wednesday, Pimentel met with the Trade minister of the Emirates, Lubna Al Qasimi. She said that she is going to Brazil this year, in the company of a delegation of businessmen. Schahin placed the Arab Brazilian Chamber at her disposal for organisation of a trade event during the delegation.
Qasimi also added that she would like to see greater speed in negotiation of a free trade agreement between the Mercosur and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The talks started several years ago, but jammed on resistance of the Brazilian petrochemical sector to open the market for similar products from the Middle East.
Pimentel also visited Mubadala, an investment company of Abu Dhabi, and spoke about the opportunities in Brazil in the area of concessions. Another topic discussed was the possible investment in African agriculture with the use of Brazilian technology. This kind of triangular business was greatly supported by former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
*Translated by Mark Ament
