São Paulo – This Monday (13th), the Moroccan minister of Handicraft, Anis Birrou, visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce headquarters, in São Paulo, seeking the organization’s support to increase handicraft sales from his country to Brazil. He was accompanied by a delegation of businessmen who want to find local partners in order to import these products.
“Sales [of handicraft to Brazil] are weak, insignificant. This is why we have come, with the Moroccan handicraft delegation, seeking opportunities for our handicraft in Brazil,” Birrou told ANBA.
During the meeting, the minister underscored the importance of handicraft to his country’s population. “Handicraft is part of Moroccan history and identity. Each and every Moroccan is proud of his handicraft.”
“The Chamber will do what it can to help them find good local partners and open up the Brazilian market,” said Salim Taufic Schahin, the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber. “The Chamber has been making a strong effort to establish closer ties between Brazilian and Moroccan companies. Now, with the visit of the minister and this important delegation of people involved with handicraft, we believe that the beauty of Moroccan handicraft is going to have Brazilians wanting to know it and start to import it,” he finished off.
The delegation included businessmen who work with products such as baskets, candles, cosmetics, melted iron and mosaics, among other items. During the meeting, they wanted to learn more about tariffs and export regulations into Brazil. The secretary general of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Michel Alaby, underscored that next Wednesday (15th), a tariff preference agreement will be between the Mercosur and Morocco, among other countries, providing for a 20% reduction in tariffs on various items, including handicraft.
To Birrou, Brazil has the potential to be a great market for Moroccan handicraft. “Brazil is a country that has reached a very high development level, it is a market of nearly 200 million people that seeks that which is artisanal, artistic, creative, and Morocco has all of those.”
The meeting was also attended by the Moroccan ambassador to Brasília, Mohamed Louafa, the consul general of Morocco to São Paulo, Hilton Peña, and the International Relations vice-president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Helmi Nasr. Afterwards, the Moroccan delegation was to attend luncheon with the Brazilian minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Miguel Jorge, at the Arab Brazilian Chamber headquarters.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
