São Paulo – Mitzi Gurgel Valente da Costa has lived in countries like Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Chile, Spain, United States, Uruguay, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. It was in the latter that upon helping her father, then the ambassador of Brazil to that country, to organize a trade show, that she became attracted to diplomacy. She started her career in 1978 and now, for the first time, she takes office as ambassador for the first time. Since February 25th, she occupies the highest position at the Brazilian embassy to Muscat, Oman.
"I would like to greatly boost bilateral trade between Brazil and Oman," she said in an interview to ANBA, during a visit this Monday (18th) to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce headquarters, where she was welcomed by secretary general Michel Alaby.
"Oman is growing right now and I think Brazil may fit in very well," she says. "It is a pleasure, for example, to go to the supermarket and see [Brazilian food companies] Perdigão and Sadia products for sale. They (the Omanis) are interested in increasing this exchange of products," she says while discussing the sectors that hold the most promise for boosting Brazilian exports to the Arab country. Mitzi also points out the oil and gas industry as having strong potential for Brazil.
Speaking on the challenges posed by her new position, Mitzi talks with great enthusiasm about her interaction with the people of Oman. "It is a very different world and I really enjoy it. I believe it is a unique experience, to be able to interact with people with a way of living and thinking that is very different from that of Brazilians,’ she claims.
The ambassador highlights the fact that being a woman is not an obstacle to her work in Oman. "I believe Oman is a very open country in that respect, they have no restrictions regarding women being diplomats or heads of office. I believe my being a woman will not get in the way of our interaction."
When it comes to work, she explains that trade is but one of the fields she intends to focus on. "I believe that culture-wise, we bear many resemblances and common points with the Arab countries," she claims. "In Oman, specifically, football is a popular passion, just as it is a passion of ours. We could continue to bring football teams, our culture, the Samba, the Capoeira [to Oman], it has been done in the past," she says. Mitzi states that she will also work to increase the number of Brazilian tourists who visit Oman and vice-versa.
Also this Monday, the ambassador has scheduled meetings at the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) and at Brazilian companies Embraer (aircraft manufacturer), Brasil Foods and Camargo Corrêa (real estate developer).
"Embraer already has a contract for selling aircraft to Oman, and now it is bidding for a tender to sell surveillance aircraft," says Mitzi regarding the agenda for her meeting with the aircraft manufacturing company. "Eventually, Oman Air may be interested in purchasing [Embraer’s] smaller passenger aircraft, because it is a small company," she claims.
Of her meeting with food company Brasil Foods, which comprises the Sadia and Perdigão brands, she explains that Omani importers are interested in buying Halal sausage, a product that is not shipped from Brazil to Oman yet. At Camargo Corrêa, she will discuss the prospects for expansion in the company’s infrastructure work in the Arab country.
Bilateral trade
In 2010, revenues from Brazilian exports to Oman reached US$ 151 million and were topped by sales of meats and offal, and molten iron. In the first quarter this year, exports were topped by aircraft sales, which generated US$ 110 million in revenues.
On the other hand, Omani exports to Brazil reached US$ 12.17 million in 2010. The main products purchased from the Arab country were fertilisers, plastics and stones for construction. In the first three months of 2011, sales to Brazil have reached US$ 12 million.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
