São Paulo – Directors of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce were welcomed last week by the Jordanian minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, Hatem Alawani, in Amman. They discussed the resumption of talks for a free trade agreement between the Mercosur and the Arab country, among other topics.
The meeting was attended by the Arab Brazilian Chamber president, Marcelo Sallum, Foreign Trade vice president, Rubens Hannun, and CEO, Michel Alaby, who are currently in Amman to take part in the Arab-European Economic Forum, held by the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Arab Countries, with which the Arab Brazilian Chamber is affiliated. The forum was held on November 20th and 21st.
According to Alaby, the executives and the Brazilian ambassador to Amman, Renata Stille, stated that the Arab Brazilian Chamber and the embassy are calling on the Brazilian government to follow up with negotiations for the trade agreement.
According to the CEO, there is a stalemate involving the textile industry: the Mercosur countries require textile items to contain at least 60% of local materials in order to benefit from tax breaks, but Jordan wants a lower rate to be tolerated in its exports to Mercosur countries.
Another issue tackled at the meeting was the possibility of the Arab Brazilian Chamber entering into an economy and market information exchange agreement with the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (Jedco), a state-owned agency to support enterprise development and exports.
The Chamber and the ministry have also committed to exchanging information on fairs and other business events that may potentially interest Jordanians in Brazil and Brazilians in Jordan. Jordan-based companies, for instance, are interested in exporting olive oil and cosmetics made using Dead Sea minerals to Brazil.
The Arab Brazilian Chamber directors also attended a meeting of CEOs of Arab chambers of commerce, also held by the General Union, and the signing of a cooperation agreement between ANBA and the Jordan News Agency (Petra), as reported by ANBA last Friday.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
