São Paulo – Agreements for facilitation of investments, partnership for the promotion of international missions and the expansion of investment-fostering programs were some of the topics discussed this Thursday (4) between the executive secretary of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), Fernando Furlan, and ambassadors from 15 African countries in Brasília. Arabs attending the meeting included the ambassador of Tunisia, Sabri Bachtobji, of Algeria, Toufik Dahmani, of Sudan, Ahmed Elsiddig, and of Libya, Khaled Dahan. Also in the meeting were the secretary of Foreign Trade, Daniel Godinho, and the executive secretary of the Brazilian Foreign Trade Chamber, Anamélia Soccal Seyffarth.
This Friday (5), the ambassador of Tunisia said to ANBA that the meeting was “highly productive”. “We talked about the signing of the Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreement (CIFA), which sets the rules for doing business and investments, and is a modern instrument to replace the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPA). This new model allows the investor more institutional support, unlike the BIPA. It’s an innovative model”, he said.
The CIFA determines the creation of meetings to discuss investments and ways of promoting them, foresees mechanisms that reduce the risks for business and prevent controversies, among others. Angola and Malawi are some of the African countries that already signed the agreement with Brazil. In Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, CIFA negotiations are still in the early stages.
In the same meeting, said the Tunisian diplomat, African ambassadors and the MDIC discussed the possibility of expanding the cooperation between the continent’s embassies and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) to increase the number of visits of Brazilian delegations to the African countries and for domestic companies to take part in more events and fairs in these countries.
Other topics covered during the meeting were the expansion of the More Food International Program, which funds the purchase of agricultural equipment in Brazil to be exported. Latin American and African countries take part in the project. “As a result we should see increased exchange between Brazil and the African countries”, said Bachtobji.
Out of the 34 African countries that have embassies in Brazil, 15 took part in the meeting. Bachtobji said that the MDIC and the ambassadors should promote a seminar on the occasion of Africa Day, officially celebrated on May 25th. In this event, new projects to expand relations with Brazil should be discussed. The meeting was attended by the ambassadors of Angola, Zimbabwe, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia, in addition to the Arab diplomats.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
