São Paulo – To improve relations and prospect the Brazilian market for Lebanese products, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Lebanon visited Brazil last week. On visiting the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce yesterday (30), in São Paulo, two representatives of the government of Lebanon were told that olive and wine produced in the Arab country may find a great market in Brazil.
Last year, Brazilian imports of olive oil totalled US$ 231.2 million, which represented an increase of 36% over 2007. The main Brazilian suppliers were Portugal, Spain and Argentina. However, Tunisia and Syria were also in the list of exporters of olive oil to Brazil. The Arab nations occupied the sixth position as suppliers of the product.
"Although participation of olive oil is low in Brazilian imports, in 2008 there was growth of 60% over the previous year," stated the Market Development manager at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Rodrigo Solano, who met the delegation together with treasury director Nahid Chicani and Market Development analyst Rafael Abdulmassih.
According to Chicani, the ministry representatives have been in Brazil for a week with the objective of learning more about foreign trade of the country with the Arab countries. "Their objective is to increase foreign trade," he said. Another product that Lebanon is interested in exporting to Brazil is wine, which is already greatly exported by the Arab country to Europe.
Of the Brazilian imports of beverages, 57% are wine, mainly from Chile, Argentina, Italy and France. The only Arab country to have a wine export permit to Brazil at the Secretariat of Foreign Trade is Lebanon.
During the meeting at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, the head of the Information Centre at the Lebanese Ministry, Rafif Kobeissi Berro, wanted to learn about the tariffs on products imported by Brazil. She also asked about other themes, like the services provided by the Arab Brazilian Chamber.
According to Solano, Rafif said that, with the global crisis greatly affecting Dubai, many multinational companies have returned to Lebanon seeking greater stability for their businesses. This, according to her, should further boost the local infrastructure. "Our mission is to verify the barriers existing between both countries and to work to help bring them closer," said Rafif, who also spoke about the interest of the government of Lebanon in having free trade with the Mercosur.
Together with the head of the Information Centre of the Lebanese ministry was the minister’s advisor and head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Unit at the ministry, Lama Oueijan. They were in the company of the representative of the Trade Promotion Operations Division at the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil, Fernanda Scalia Pereira, and of lawyer and partner at office Rubens de Moraes Advogados, José Rubens de Moraes.
*Translated by Mark Ament
