Isaura Daniel, special envoy*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
Kuwait City – Trade between Brazil and Kuwait has a prospect of rapid growth, but Brazilians need to further showcase products in the Arab country, according to the treasurer at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abdulwahab Mohammed Al-Wazzan. The opinion was expressed yesterday (20th) by the executive, who is also the president at the Kuwait International Bank, during a meeting with Brazilian businessmen at the organisation’s head offices, in Kuwait City. Attended by approximately 30 Kuwaiti businessmen, the meeting was part of the activities of the Brazilian civil construction sector mission to the Gulf, promoted by the the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
Kuwait was the first country visited by the mission. “Trade between the two countries could be larger,” said Al-Wazzan. The treasurer stated that both countries have good services and products to offer. Brazil exported the equivalent of US$ 173 million to Kuwait from January to October this year. In the same months of last year, sales totalled US$ 112 million. On the other hand, Kuwait exported to the Brazilian market the equivalent of US$ 77 million in the first ten months of the current year, against US$ 550,000 in the same period of last year.
The Brazilian ambassador to Kuwait, Mario Roiter, who also attended the meeting, invited the Kuwaiti businessmen to travel to Brazil in order to get to know the country’s potential. Al-Wazzan liked the idea, and said that it would be an opportunity for discovering possible business opportunities between Brazil and Kuwait. Al-Wazzan claimed that relations between Kuwait and Brazil must advance in terms of investments as well, which could be done by means of joint ventures. The Brazilian and Kuwaiti businessmen started to outline deals yesterday already.
After a brief collective introduction, they had a chance to talk to possible local buyers. The director at company 2000 Trading Center, M.S. Nayyar, was one of the Kuwaiti businessmen who were at the head office of the organisation seeking Brazilian suppliers. Nayyar is interested in importing steel from Brazil. "I want to import, it will depend on quality and pricing,” he said. Presently, he purchases the product from countries such as Japan and South Africa. Some Brazilian companies took samples of their products and showcased them to the Kuwaitis.
At the end of the day, delegation members were optimistic regarding the market in Kuwait. "There are many interesting works here, we only have to identify who is in charge of buying," said the export manager at Induscabos, Heber Santos. The company, a maker of electric wires and cables, is a member of the delegation. Export consortium Gypsum Brazil also made promising contacts in Kuwait. According to the director, Naja Domingos, samples will be sent to two gypsum importers in Kuwait with whom Domingos, the president at the consortium, Josias Inojosa de Oliveira Filho, and director Hildeberto Alencar, had meetings.
To the secretary-general at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, the accomplishments of such missions cannot lose their continuity, and missions ought to be promoted with increasingly greater frequence, as they help establish Brazil in the markets. "The meetings that we had have surpassed our expectations, both in terms of receptiveness and of the quality of the companies in attendance,” said the director at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Wladimir Rafik Freua, who is also a member of the delegation.
Kuwait
After the meeting with the Brazilians, during a press conference, the treasurer at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry talked about the efforts that the country has been making in order to diversify its income sources. In all, 85% of the Kuwaiti economy is still oil-dependant. However, the country has several ongoing projects in other sectors. One such project, according to Al-Wazzan, consists of becoming a financial hub. Kuwait should also carry out privatisations in the future. Those should occur in sectors such as telecommunications, transport, education and health, said the executive.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum