São Paulo – Business owners from Lebanon will visit Brazil from November 25 to December 2 for the 1st Conference “Energy of Lebanese Diaspora for Latin America”. The event was organized due to a mission of the Brazil-Lebanon Business Council (CELB) and aims to expand the relations between the two countries. The Lebanese business owners will visit the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in a meeting also to be attended by Brazilian companies.
Michel Alaby, the Arab Chamber’s CEO, pointed out that Brazil and the city of São Paulo hosts a large Lebanese community and said that the organization wants to organize the meeting between the Arab and Brazilian business owners. “We want the Chamber to be their Arab home here. The largest Lebanese community outside Lebanon is here in Brazil and the plans, with this event, are to encourage reciprocal trade and investment”, he said.
A meeting with the Brazilian members of the business council and a visit to the Federation of Industries of São Paulo State (Fiesp) are in the conference’s programme. A meeting at the federation with business owners is being planned.
In Brasília, the CELB’s members should meet with representatives from the Ministry of Industry, Development and Foreign Trade (MDIC), from the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), from the National Federation of Industry (CNI) and with members of Congress’s Brazil-Lebanon parliamentary group.
Also in Brasília, the president of the Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries (BBAC) should meet with representatives from the Brazilian Central Bank, since the Arab bank has shown an interest in opening an office in Brazil. Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) is supporting the meeting, which should also be attended by members of the CELB at the federal capital. Itamaraty told ANBA that it’s helping on the event’s scheduling and the promotion of it with Brazilian authorities.
“The Brazilian government considers the initiative to be highly positive for the strengthening of the bilateral ties between Brazil and Lebanon, especially through the activation of one of its most active and dynamic elements: the Lebanese diaspora [migration] in the country. The conference presents, beyond the political dimension, a strong economic-trade mindset that can aid the efforts of turning more active the bilateral relations in this field”, said Itamaraty.
Before leaving Brazil, in early December, the Lebanese business owners will visit the Arab Chamber. Also in the capital of São Paulo, they want to visit the São Paulo Agency for the Promotion of Investments and Competitiveness (Investe SP).
In 2015, Brazil exported USD 286.7 million worth of products to Lebanon, especially beef and live animals. In the other way around, Brazil imported USD 23.8 million worth of Lebanese products, especially organic and inorganic fertilizers. Among the Arab countries, Lebanon was the 11th largest destination for Brazilian exports and the 12th largest supplier of imports.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
