São Paulo – Reciprocal investment was among the main themes discussed by the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Amorim, with representatives of the top echelon of the government of Tunisia, on Wednesday (2), in Tunis. Vale is participating in a tender to explore phosphates in the Arab countries and, if it is victorious, the Brazilian mining company should make important investment. At the same time, the Tunisian Elloumi group is getting ready to open a factory to produce electric cables for use in the automotive industry, in the Brazilian state of Paraná.
According to information supplied by the Brazilian Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty), Amorim discussed the matter of phosphates with prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi. The input is used in production of fertilizers, broadly used in Brazilian agriculture, and Brazil has great dependence on imports. Tunisia is one of the main suppliers for Brazil.
In January, during a trade mission to North Africa, the minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade of Brazil, Miguel Jorge, announced the Vale intention of participating in the tender for exploration of phosphates in Tunisia. As informed by ANBA at the time, Jorge said that this is one of the main phosphate mines in the world and the project is estimated at between US$ 2 billion and US$ 2.5 billion.
Regarding Elloumi Group investment in Brazil, Amorim spoke to the minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdelwahab Abdallah. ANBA revealed in 2004 that the company sought partners to open a factory in the country. Early this year, company executives announced the choice of Curitiba, Paraná, for installation of the plant.
According to the Itamaraty, Amorim and Abdallah also spoke about the current situation of the Middle East and about the South America-Africa Summit, to take place in Venezuela, late this month. The Tunisian minister should visit Brazil again this year. He visited the country in 2006.
The Foreign Minister of Brazil also met Defence minister Kamel Morjane and, according to the Itamaraty, discussed cooperation between both countries in the area and the Brazilian intention of selling aircraft to Tunisia.
Amorim also met with the president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka, with whom he discussed closer ties between Brazil and Africa, the difficulty there is to obtaining credit for projects on the continent and the promotion of joint programs, according to the Itamaraty. Brazil is a minority partner in the AfDB.
After the meeting, the Foreign Minister granted a press conference at the embassy of Brazil and, yesterday, headed on to India, where he is going to participate today and tomorrow in a ministerial meeting to discuss the return to negotiation of the Doha Rounds of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
*Translated by Mark Ament