Doha – This Monday (30th), the businessmen and sector organisation representatives who participated in the South America-Arab Countries Business Forum released a communiqué containing suggestions from the private sector to the leaders of the two regions that are going to attend the 2nd Summit of South American-Arab Countries, to be held in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.
According to the document, the businessmen claim that “the mitigation” of the international financial crisis and its negative effects requires coordinated efforts in the two regions.
To that extent, they propose for the nations of the two blocs to avoid protectionist measures and increase access to their markets “in the context of policies for minimising the effects of the crisis,” as well as to encourage private and public banks to expand their lines for credit, in order to promote trade and investment between the regions.
In order to facilitate the transit of people and goods, the private sector suggests for visa issuance to be made easier and for agreements to be signed in the transport area, "so as to establish solid air and sea routes, which should also favour tourism."
The businessmen also call for daily announcements of the schedule of trade fairs and missions in the countries involved; signing of agreements for standardising metrology and animal and vegetal health issues; and creation of mechanisms for technical and scientific cooperation.
The text suggests the establishment of a Federation of Arab-South American Chambers of Commerce, which, in turn, will be entrusted with promoting the creation of similar chambers in all South American countries.
The declaration also proposes for tools, such as Websites, to be created for the disclosing of agreements, business and investment opportunities, as well as legal issues relevant to entrepreneurial activity.
To the participants in the forum, governments must adopt all possible measures in order to facilitate the role of the private sector, removing barriers to the transit of goods and people, and developing a “healthy” business environment.
The letter provides that, to that extent, there needs to be an improvement in the legal framework with regard to economic activities, investment, the formation of translation joint ventures, and the avoidance of double-taxing in bi-regional deals.
Roundtables
The forum lasted two days and ended on this Monday with business roundtables, which received positive reviews from participants. The representative of Brazilian transport company Figwal, Deonísio Petry, said that he had contacts with businessmen from Qatar and neighbouring countries and that before returning to Brazil, he is going to make a stop in Dubai to visit a local agent. “The turnover here is still timid, but the short-term expectation is for us to ship more cargoes of industrialised products,” he declared.
In turn, the executive director of the Colombia-United Arab Emirates Chamber of Commerce and GCC, Cecilia Eraso, said that there was strong interest in investment and imports of products from her country by Arab businessmen. According to her, the interest was greatest in investment in the tourism industry and in imports of coffee and food.
Another person who claimed to have made good contacts was the Brazilian born, Saudi-based Iara Silva, owner of Halal Business Development (BHBD). She is seeking Brazilian food exporters who are willing to enter the Saudi market, indicates Halal-certified companies and seeks importers who are interested in the products.
The representative of Waters of Patagonia, Ian Szydlowski, also informed that he made good contacts for a water reserve exploration project in Chile. The company, according to him, holds a concession for exploring water that melts down from glaciers in the south of the country.
On his part, the vice president of Bahrain-based Sound Investment Partners, Behzad Mohsen, was searching for people interested in opening permanent offices and showrooms in his country.
Consultancy firm PricewatherhouseCoopers was also present at the meeting, offering services such as feasibility studies, market analyses, business plans, human resources development, tax planning, among others. “The countries in the region went through many reforms over the last five years, and we are able to offer consultancy to companies that need to comply with the new regulations,” said the local partner of the company in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Walid Shukri.
Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras also participated in the forum. The company was recently invited by the government of Qatar to review geological data for three exploration blocs in the country. The company purchased the data in order to carry out further studies.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
