São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce is organizing, next Monday (02/04), the Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum, at Hotel Unique, in São Paulo. With the theme Building the Future, the meeting will gather representatives of governments, corporate leaders and experts of both regions to discuss business opportunities and partnerships in priority areas for both sides. The event is being co-organized with the Union of Arab Chambers and has the support of the Arab League.
There will be six theme panels focused on these areas. Throughout the programme, data from a research conducted in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria and Brazil on how the Arabs look at Brazil and how Brazilians look at Arabs will be presented.
One of them will be about Food Security and Logistics. The Arabs have great concern for food security, since, in general, the region’s countries don’t produce enough to supply their markets and are forced to import large quantities of food products, making them vulnerable to the oscillations of the global market. On the other end, Brazil is a large producer and exporter of agribusiness goods.
Last year, Brazil exported USD 10.4 billion worth of agribusiness products to the Arab countries, up 18% over 2016, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. Although the amount is significant, the Arab Chamber’s president, Rubens Hannun, says that there’s room to increase the trade.
“In the case of food products, we supply only 10% of the demand of Arab countries. Regarding meats, only 20%,” says Hannun. “Therefore, there’s a lot of room for growth, mainly for added value food products,” he added, mentioning processed products.
Brazil’s former minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, currently coordinator of the Agribusiness Studies Center of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), will take part in the panel. Since most of the Arabs are Muslims, another panel will cover the Halal sector, of products and services that follow the Islamic norms. In effect, Brazil already is one of the world’s largest halal suppliers, but the panel will also discuss sectors such as cosmetics and tourism. Advisor Ibrahim Abu-Helil, for instance, will present success cases of the hotel sector.
Besides food imports, the Arab Chamber’s president points out that the Arabs have been increasingly interested in making investments in the sector in Brazil and also in the infrastructure sector. Some examples are the purchase of around 20% of the meat packing company Minerva by Saudi Salic, the acquisition of Odebrecht’s stake in the maritime terminal Embraport, in Santos, by Dubai-based DP World, the arrival in Brazil, a couple years ago, of the logistics Kuwaiti company Agility, and the participation of the Qatar Petroleum in a consortium that acquired the pre-salt bloc in a bidding in October of last year. The Qatari company is also among those registered for the 15th round of biddings that the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) will hold on March 29.
In this sense, one of the panels will be about Investments. Set to take part are the president of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Paulo Rabello de Castro, economist Zeina Latif, of XP Investimentos and the chief economist of the Lebanese bank Audi, Marwan Barakat. The mediators will be the CEOs of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, and of the Ghorfa Arab German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abdulaziz Al-Mikhlafi.
Energy
Renewable Energies will also be discussed. Some Arab countries have been heavily investing in this area, even with all their wealth in oil and gas. According to Hannun, they know that these resources are finite and are in search of alternative sources. “The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, for instance, are among the governments that encourage the construction of ‘green’ cities in their territories,” he said. Their sunny weather favors the use of solar energy in the region. Morocco is one of the countries taking advantage of this.
To talk about the topic, the guests are Suani Coelho, professor and researcher of the Institute of Energy and Environment of the University of São Paulo (USP), Plínio Nastari, president of consulting firm Datagro and national advisor of Energy Policy, and Alessandra Amaral, president of Energisa Comercializadora.
Innovation and Technology are other topics to be discussed in a panel that included Eduardo Mario Dias, professor of Polytechnic School of USP, Marcos Cintra, president of the Funding Agency of Studies and Projects (FINEP), Eduardo Peixoto, chief business executive of the Recife Center for Advanced Studies and Systems (CESAR), and Sami El-Tamawy, an executive of the startups tech area in Dubai.
The forum will also discuss Image and Branding and Tourism, with Brazilian chef Alex Atala, the special secretary of Strategic Affairs of the Presidency, Hussein Kalout, the CEO of TV channel Arte1, Caio Luiz de Carvalho, and the director of the French-Palestinian Cultural Institute, Amina Hamshari.
In the event’s opening, the CEO of the Union of Arab Chambers, the organization that represents the corporate sector of the Arab world, Khaled Hanafy, will give a presentation on the economic scenario of Arab countries, and Hannun will detail the actions of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce with a view to the future. On the closing ceremony, Hanafy and Alaby will present the event’s conclusions.
Throughout the schedule, there will be lunch, coffee and cocktail breaks, when those attending will be able to network.
For further information and registrations, click here to visit the forum’s website.
Watch below an interview with Michel Alaby about the forum, broadcasted by Band News TV channel.
Quick info
Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum
On April 2, from 8 am to 7 pm
At Hotel Unique, Av. Brigadeiro Luís Antônio, 4.700, Jardim Paulista, São Paulo, SP
Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce
Phone: 55 11 3145-3200
Email: members@ccab.org.br
Website: www.ccab.org.br
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
