São Paulo – Brazil and Jordan signed 11 cooperation agreements in the last few years and should continue to establish closer ties. So says the Jordanian ambassador to Brasília, Ramez Goussous, who is also the dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors to Brazil and is leaving both positions in coming days. On assessing Jordan-Brazil relations to ANBA, Goussous expressed his belief in even closer relations between the two regions and claims two Brazilian ministers, from the Healthcare and Agriculture cabinets, may visit his country soon to discuss cooperation in their areas.
President Dilma Rousseff had a meeting with the king of Jordan, Abdullah II, in Lima, Peru, early this month, during the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa) and the Brazilian minister of Foreign Relations, Antonio Patriota, was received by the Jordanian monarch in a trip to the Arab country this Tuesday (16th). According to Goussous, one of the possibilities discussed with Patriota was the visit of the Agriculture and healthcare ministers to his country. In Lima, king Abdullah II spoke to Dilma about the digitalization of his country’s social security and healthcare service systems, which attracted the president’s interest.
Goussous said Brazil can help Jordan in areas such as agriculture and energy. The two countries have signed agreements in various segments, many of which during the term in office of the current ambassador to Brazil. In 2010, for instance, an agreement was signed targeting education, and in 2008 a memorandum of understanding was signed targeting bilateral consultations. Also in 2008, a science and technology cooperation agreement was signed. King Abdullah II travelled to Brazil during the administration of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Lula also travelled to Jordan while in the presidency.
Despite the closer ties established between the two countries in later years, however, Goussous believes there is potential for more, not only in knowledge exchange, but also in trade and investment. “There is a lot to be done,” he said, although he mentioned that trade between Brazil and the Arab world as a whole has increased a lot over the past few years. “We must make good use of what we have got (relations with Brazil) because Brazil is a rising economy, it is the world’s sixth economy, has the best growth, the best maturity, and the best opportunity in the world,” said the diplomat.
Trade between Brazil and Jordan, he says, is still modest, but will grow. Last year, Brazil exported the equivalent of US$ 189 million to Jordan. From January to September this year, exports stood at US$ 155 million. Brazil basically sells foodstuffs such as meats and sugar, and also small amounts of grain, coffee, paper and other materials. Jordan, in turn, ships virtually no product to Brazil: sales amounted to US$ 1.7 million from January to September. In all of last year, sales stood US$ 1.6 million. Fertilizer was the main Jordanian product imported by Brazil this year.
Goussous, who has been the Jordanian ambassador to Brazil for six years now, says Brazil is the future. According to him, the role of Brazil, currently a key global player, was also discussed at meetings between Brazilian and Jordanian officials in the last few days. The meetings that took place, says the diplomat, reflect the mutual interest at play between the two regions. “Brazil is in my heart,” he says as he bids farewell.
Goussous was paid a tribute by the board of directors of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce with a farewell dinner this Tuesday at restaurant Fasano, in São Paulo. In his six years working in Brasília, Goussous worked in partnership with the Chamber on several occasions, by means of the embassy. The Arab Brazilian Chamber president, Salim Taufic Schahin, presented the diplomat with a silver tray with sayings alluding to said relationship.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
