Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – Brazil and Saudi Arabia will have a business council aimed at strengthening trade ties between the two countries. The decision was made during the stay of a 16-businessman delegation from the Arab country in the southeastern Brazilian city of São Paulo. The group arrived in the city during the weekend, and travelled yesterday (23) to the Brazilian capital Brasília. The agreement will be prepared by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, which is accompanying the mission in Brazil, and should be signed soon. "With the creation of the council, we will be able to hold periodic meetings focused on the pertaining sectors," says the president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Antonio Sarkis Jr.
Business councils are usually comprised of businessmen from the participating countries, as well as leaderships and organisations in the sector, which work to encourage trade and investment between the two regions. The experience of business councils with other countries, according to Sarkis, has shown that they are effective for promoting closer trade relations. The Arab Brazilian Chamber is ahead of councils involving Brazilian businessmen and several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Egypt, Tunisia, and Syria.
The creation of a business group for Saudi Arabia and Brazil should help the two countries accomplish the goals outlined during the mission. The head of the Saudi delegation, Ahmed Suliman Al-Romaih, left São Paulo yesterday confident in the fact that relations between the two regions can advance a lot. "We can walk together, Brazil investing in Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia investing in Brazil," he told ANBA. Al-Romaih also named sectors in which there might be trade exchange. Brazil, according to him, can supply foodstuffs, steel, sugar, and machinery to the Saudis, and the Saudis can supply petrochemical products and petroleum to Brazil.
The director of the Trade Relations and Foreign Trade Department at the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), Antonio Fernando Bessa, also believes in the possibility of mutual investment between Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Yesterday morning, before boarding to Brasília, the delegation had a meeting with Bessa and the vice president at Fiesp, Elias Miguel Haddad, at the Fiesp offices. "Saudi Arabia is undergoing a phase of great development in construction and infrastructure. I believe that there is space for a wide-ranging collaboration, including provision of material and establishment of joint ventures, in Brazil and in Saudi Arabia," Bessa told ANBA.
Early this week, Saudi Basic Industries (Sabic), a state-owned Saudi petrochemical company, bought General Electric (GE) Plastics, a division of the multinational corporation dedicated to the production of plastic resins which has operations in Brazil. The purchase, which placed Saudi capital in Brazil, was mentioned during the visit to Fiesp. GE Plastics has been in Brazil since 1987, based in the city of Campinas, in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Bessa also recalled that trade between the two countries is increasing: it rose from US$ 1.6 billion in 1996 to US$ 3.1 billion last year. From this total, US$ 1.4 billion consists of Brazilian exports, and US$ 1.6 billion represent sales by the Saudis to Brazil.
Brazil
The director at Fiesp made a presentation about the Brazilian economy to the Saudis, disclosing information such as the self-sufficiency in petroleum that the country attained last year, and the implementation of the renewable energy program, which already counts on 2.7 million vehicles using the dual fuel system.
Brazil produces approximately 17 billion litres of ethanol per year and, according to Bessa, this volume should double within five years. He also told the Saudis about problems faced by Brazilian businessmen, such as high tax and employment tax burdens, and infrastructure shortcomings. Haddad invited the Arab businessmen to invest in infrastructure projects in Brazil.
Mission
Last evening in the federal capital, the Saudi delegation attended a dinner offered by the Saudi Arabian embassy. Today, the delegation will participate in business roundtables at the Federation of Industries of the Federal District, and tomorrow they will be in the southeastern Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro for business meetings at the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
From Brazil, the group will head to Argentina. In Brasília and in Rio de Janeiro, the group is accompanied by the secretary general at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Michel Alaby, and by the foreign trade analyst at the organisation, Zein El-Abdine. In São Paulo, in addition to the Fiesp meeting, the Saudis also attended a conference and business meetings at the Chamber. Yesterday, Sarkis handed a homage plaque to the head of the Saudi delegation. Haddad gave Al-Romaih a book about São Paulo.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
