Alexandre Rocha*
São Paulo – Brazil and Tunisia are going to sign agreements in the area of education and culture during the visit of the minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab country, Abdelwahab Abdallah, to Brazilian capital Brasília today (16) and tomorrow. With the minister of Education, Fernando Haddad, the Tunisian Foreign Minister is going to sign a university cooperation agreement for the teaching of Portuguese at the Tunisian university of Manouba.
According to the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), the university already offers a Portuguese course, but the agreement is going to make it possible for there to be grater exchange between professors. In the same line, at the end of the meeting of the Brazil-Tunisia Mixed Committee, which will bring together government and private sector representatives, a cultural cooperation treaty between both countries should be renewed for the 2006-2009 period.
The document, according to the Itamaraty, should contemplate the areas of cinema, photography, cultural assets and diversity, theatre, literature, music and dance, with Brazilian participation at events in Tunisia and vice versa. The Arab country organises, for example, the Carthage Film Festival, one of the most important in the area in Africa and the Middle East.
Other areas, like agriculture and health, should also be the object of protocols of intention. Apart from Fernando Haddad and the minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, Abdallah also has meetings scheduled with the ministers of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, and Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, with the president of the Lower House, Aldo Rebelo, and with the vice president of the republic, José Alencar.
Learning about the market
The meeting of the mixed committee will include both members of government and representatives of construction companies Andrade Gurierrez, Camargo Corrêa and Norberto Odebrecht, and of oil company Petrobras and aircraft maker Embraer. At the meeting, these companies are going to be able to learn about the potential of the Tunisian market.
"This is an important meeting in which it is possible to make a first contact, to learn about the businessmen in the region so as to, in future, start prospecting the market," stated the executive director of institutional relations at construction company Andrade Gutierrez, Flávio Machado Filho. During the meeting, the Tunisians will be able to show what their country has to offer in terms of business and, at the same time, learn more about the sectors represented by the Brazilian companies.
Arab Brazilian Chamber
Commercial contacts will continue on the 18th, when minister Abdallah will be in São Paulo, the largest business centre in Brazil, accompanied by representatives from 10 companies from his country. At the offices of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce there will be a seminar about business opportunities in Tunisia, as well as business roundtables.
Tunisian companies are interested in exporting phosphates and phosphoric acid, importing lorries, chassis and bodies for buses, buying and selling spices, exporting dates and other food products, refrigerators, equipment for meat packing plants, hotel equipment and construction material, and are also interested in importing sugar, pepper, cattle beef, fish and gas cookers. Those interested in participating in the events in São Paulo should get in contact with the marketing department of the Arab Brazilian Chamber. Admittance is free (see below).
Contact
Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce
Marketing department
Tel: (+55 11) 3283-4066
E-mail: marketing@ccab.org.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
