Kuwait City – This Wednesday (1st), the Kuwaiti prime minister, Nasser Al-Sabah, called for the strengthening of trade ties with Brazil. "We believe that trade should grow further and further," he said during a meeting with the Brazilian minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Miguel Jorge, at the Kuwaiti government palace, in Kuwait City.
Jorge is heading an entrepreneurial mission on a tour of the Middle East. Kuwait was the second stop in the trip, after Damascus, in Syria. "There are huge opportunities at hand," said the prime minister. "Our private sector is very important, the businessmen are quick and free [to do business]," he added.
While the minister attended meetings with local government officials, the roughly 70 Brazilian companies that comprise the delegation engaged in business roundtables with Kuwaiti businessmen at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. A total of 65 companies from the Arab country were invited.
Jorge stated that he was keeping a promise made by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as of Sabah’s visit to Brazil, in August. Lula promised to promote a business mission to the Gulf emirate.
The prime minister claimed, however, that the transport of goods and people between the two countries must be made easier. He said that the local airline, Kuwait Airways, is being privatized, and that next year new aircraft are going to start operating and new routes will be created. Flights will be offered to destinations in Latin America. Sabah also called for the establishment of maritime routes.
Brazilian products
Displaying good knowledge of Brazil, the prime minister discussed Brazilian places and products. He said, for instance, that [Brazilian manufacturing company] Embraer’s aircraft operate in Kuwait and boast good performance.
"We already import lorries as well," he said. "There are travelling stores in the desert, and whenever you ask them if they have chicken they say: we have Brazilian chicken," he added. Sabah also stated that in the past, Chevrolet Brazil supplied a pickup truck model to the country that became known as "The Brazilian."
At a meeting with the Brazilian businessmen prior to the roundtables, the Brazilian ambassador, Roberto Abdallah, claimed that Kuwait has a privatization process underway. The country has lots of investment abroad, but in Brazil only two cases are known: a stake in the ABC bank and the Itatrans logistics company, which has been recently acquired by the Kuwaiti Agility.
The country has a sovereign fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), with estimated funds of over US$ 200 billion. Only last year did the fund return to the level of capital that it had prior to the Iraqi invasion, in 1990. The emirate was also affected by the international economic crisis, but remains one of the Middle East’s leading economies.
Chambers
During a meeting at the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce, the vice president of the organization, Abdul Wahab Al Wazzan, stated that an exhibition of Brazilian enterprises should be held in the Arab country. "So that people may see the [Brazilian] products," he said.
The president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Salim Taufic Schahin, who accompanied Jorge in his visits, has placed the organization over which he presides at disposal. "You may use our chamber. There is much that can be done," he said. He added that Brazil offers many opportunities for Kuwaiti investors and suggested greater exchange of information between the two organizations.
As an example, Schahin mentioned the food sector. The Brazilian delegation includes a group of businessmen who are seeking investment for agricultural projects. Wazzan claimed that the Gulf countries are investing in the field, in foreign countries, in order to secure a supply to their own markets.
Jorge and part of the delegation have also attended luncheon with the Kuwaiti minister of Trade, Ahmed Rachid Al-Haroon, at the restaurant in the Kuwait Towers, a set of pointy buildings that are a symbol of the country, and which offers a nice view of the city.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
