São Paulo – Businessman Salim Taufic Schahin was elected president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce yesterday evening (21). He is going to run the organisation for the coming two years replacing Antonio Sarkis Jr., who ran the organisation for four years and two consecutive terms. The transfer of the position took place in the same session of the Higher Board of Administration in which the election of the new board occurred.
In an interview to ANBA, Schahin, who was the Foreign Trade vice president in the previous administration, spoke a little about what he plans to do while heading the institution. "The Chamber has progressed fantastically. It is recognised by authorities in Brazil and the Arab world and should always have as its objective the expansion of bilateral relations in areas like trade and tourism," he said.
The new president pointed out that he plans to pay special attention to the attraction of Arab investment to Brazil. According to him, the country still has many infrastructure projects to be implemented, and several nations in the Arab world have funds accumulated in recent years due to oil exports, despite the great depreciation in the price of the commodity that took place since July 2008. "This is an objective to be followed," he declared.
To increase economic relations, Schahin said that the Chamber should continue organising and participating in promotion actions, like fairs, trade missions and business seminars. The idea, according to him, is to further expand the organisation’s operation in the area. "Without continued work, you loose opportunities. The more the Arabs know about Brazil, and vice versa, the larger the possibilities of expansion of business," he said.
Since the first trip that Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took to the Middle East and North Africa, in December 2003, the visibility and receptiveness to Brazil in the Arab world has been rising. But Schahin wants to increase the Arab knowledge of the possibilities offered by the country. One opportunity for this should be the 2nd Summit of Arab-South American Countries (Aspa), to take place in April, in Doha, Qatar.
Persistence is important especially at this moment of international crisis. To the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, thanks to an austere economic policy, Brazil currently has macroeconomic conditions to face the period of retraction in a better way. According to him, it is now time to make use of the opportunities to leave the crisis stronger. But, for such, much work by the government and by businessmen is necessary, aimed at keeping up productive investment and, consequently, the generation of jobs and economic growth.
In his inauguration address, the new president pointed out the accomplishments of the previous administration and asked for effort by the board and by the organisation’s employees for the institution’s work to go on evolving and to "face the demands that are coming".
Sarkis, prior to transferring his post, spoke about the record figures of trade between Brazil and the Arab countries in 2008, which exceeded US$ 20 billion. "We are taking an important step in the direction of consolidation of relations with the Arab countries. Despite the global crisis in 2008, more than in other years, it was possible to prove that the Arab countries are excellent partners for the promotion of business," he pointed out.
In the first days of his term, Schahin should participate in a trade mission to North Africa organized by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. A delegation of over 100 people, led by minister Miguel Jorge, leaves São Paulo on Saturday heading to Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
To Schahin, the mission represents a good opportunity for businessmen to better recognize the market in the region and explore the possibilities of greater trade. He pointed out that the function of the Chamber is not only to provide incentives to greater Brazilian exports, but also to the import of Arab products into Brazil. "It is work that must be done on both sides," he said.
Culture
Another priority of the new president should be the promotion of Arab culture in Brazil. "The idea is to show the Brazilian people how the Arab culture was important to the world. While Europe was in the Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages, the Arab world flourished in all senses," he said.
He pointed out that the Chamber already develops important work in this area, with support to promotion of cultural events and the release of books. "We are going to take this fantastic experience and improve it, we are going to talk to governments and companies to see what can be done," he said.
The president declared, however, that the Arab Brazilian Chamber is going to continue faithful to the principle of not getting involved in political and religious issues.
Board
Salim Taufic Schahin is 69 years old. He is graduated in civil engineering from Mackenzie University and post graduated in business administration from Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). A father of three, he is a partner and founder of Schahin group, a conglomerate of companies that includes a bank, financing company and stock brokerage and also operates in the area of engineering, real estate, oil and gas, engineering and telecommunications. The company was established in 1966. Before Sarkis’ term, he had already been on the organisation’s board in three other administrations.
Apart form the new president, yesterday, vice presidents Marcelo Sallum (Administrative), Wladimir Freua (Foreign Trade) and the new treasury director, Nahid Chicani, were also elected. Vice presidents Helmi Nasr (Foreign Relations) and Rubens Hannun (Marketing) were re-elected. Michel Alaby continues as the organisation’s secretary general.
*Translated by Mark Ament
