São Paulo – Before the end of the year, Brazil and Morocco are expected to sign the Agreement on Cooperation and Facilitation of Investments (ACFI), whose aim is to enable a safer environment for investors and increase investment flows between the countries. So said the incoming Moroccan ambassador to Brasília, Nabil Adghoghi, in an interview with ANBA in São Paulo on Thursday (16).
The signing of the treaty is a major step towards strengthening trade between Brazil and Morocco, whose diplomatic ties go back 111 years. The next step would be to move forward with discussions for a trade agreement, which are currently at a standstill.
“Morocco has an ambition of opening up to the world. We sustain trade agreements with the European Union, the United States, Turkey, and African countries, and we have built closer ties with Russia, China, and India. We are committed to resuming talks for a Morocco-Mercosur agreement,” asserted Adghoghi.
The ambassador points out that some goods could potentially be sensitive, but notes that there are mechanisms that can minimize those effects, and that some sector could benefit from a gradual transition. The important thing, he said, is that there is plenty of headroom for trade to increase in both directions.
Regarding Moroccan products that could sell more in Brazil, Adgoghi mentioned auto parts, fish, olive oil and cosmetics. Currently, fertilizers are the top-selling item from the African country to Brazil.
“With support from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, I will encourage Moroccan exporters to take part in Apas [a supermarket industry exhibition taking place next May in São Paulo],” the diplomat said. In turn, the Chamber will join forces with Apex-Brasil to take Brazilian companies to Siam, the International Agriculture Show in Morocco.
According to the ambassador, the plan for Siam is to showcase the potential of Brazil’s agricultural machinery industry, since it is a major global player. “Morocco has an ambitious agricultural policy, and Brazilians could help with their know-how,” he explains.
Adghoghi also mentioned renewable energy and pharmaceuticals as relevant industries when it comes to increasing exports from Brazil to Morocco, which consist mostly of sugar at this time.
Rubens Hannun…
Tourism
Morocco welcomes an average of 30,000 to 35,000 Brazilians each year and 12 million tourists from around the world. According to the ambassador, this is another area with a potential for expansion. He added that there nonstop Brazil-Casablanca flights are available from Royal Air Maroc.
“We need to increase our advertisement of Morocco in Brazil. Two weeks from now, a samba school will pay tribute to our country during Carnival, and this is an important window of opportunity we must seize,” he said. The school at hand is Rio de Janeiro’s Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel, which will have a Morocco-themed parade this year. “And the opposite is also true. Embratur does promote Brazil in Morocco, but there’s room for growth on both sides.”
Tourism was a highlight of Adghoghi’s conversation with São Paulo vice governor Márcio França (a member of party PSB), with whom he met on Friday (17). The ambassador said França was enthusiastic about the subject.
In addition to the vice governor, Adghoghi visited the vice mayor of São Paulo, Bruno Covas (PSDB), to discuss existing investment opportunities in both countries. The vice mayor stressed that over half of Brazil’s exports to Morocco originate from São Paulo.
The ambassador also visited the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) alongside Thomaz Zanotto, the director of the International Relations and Foreign Trade Department. He was welcomed at newspaper <i>Folha de São Paulo </i>by newsroom secretary Igor Gielow and by World section editor Juliano Machado. He also went to the offices of the Arab Chamber and visited the Mohamed V square, which faces São Paulo’s Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral and features a monument donated by Morocco to the city. The diplomat was accompanied by the Arab Chamber’s president and by CEO Michel Alaby.
Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun said the diplomats visit to São Paulo was very positive. “It was not only a matter of making introductions; the ambassador presented the actions he is working on with the Chamber and with the other interlocutors,” he said. “With these visits we are building a basis for our relations and paving the way for the actions that the Chamber is planning.”
Nabil Adghoghi presented his credentials to Brazilian president Michel Temer on January 19 of this year. A native of Casablanca, Adghoghi graduated in Public Administration from the National School of Administration (ENA) in Rabat, Morocco, and in Paris, France. He began his diplomatic career in 1987 and served as first-secretary at the embassies in Paris and Brasília. Adghoghi also had stints as minister-counselor to the Embassy of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, and in a number of positions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Rabat prior to his current term.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
