São Paulo – The Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA) is now brand new! A new version of the news website was launched by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce on Monday (2), in the year the site turns 15, featuring a more modern layout. Short texts and pictures are featured more prominently. New sections have been created to even further support ANBA’s mission of promoting Arab-Brazilian communication.
The new ANBA premiered during a dinner event in São Paulo’s Hotel Unique – which also marked Arab Community Day in Brazil – following the Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum. The event was attended by delegates from Arab countries and the Arab community in Brazil. The revamped website was announced by Arab Brazilian Chamber president Rubens Hannun.
“The Brazil-Arab News Agency now has a more functional new portal with lots more possibilities and more information. There’s an opportunities-only section for those looking to do business with Arab countries,” Hannun said. The new version was developed by website builder EscaEsco Comunicação in tandem with the ANBA staff.
The Opportunities section will keep readers posted on trade shows, B2B events, conferences, tenders, and businesses looking for partnerships. The Blog was designed to bring readers behind-the-scenes news stories. The debut post features a light-hearted account from reporter André Barros on how he attended a soccer match between local teams at Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium last month. The second post sees Alexandre Rocha tell the story of a visit he made to a milk farm in the middle of the desert.
People will bring stories about prominent personalities from the Arab community in Brazil who made contributions to the country’s ties with Middle East and North Africa nations. For the section’s first-ever feature, Isaura Daniel interviewed Lebanese-descendant businessman Ricardo Sayon, the founder of toy store chain Ri Happy.
The Arabs and Me will run first-person accounts of successful stories in dealing with Arabs. For the first feature, foreign trade executive Damaris Eugênia da Costa, of export-import firm Braseco, traces back her story doing business in Arab countries. The Halal section will feature stories on the booming industry of goods and services that adhere to Muslim beliefs.
ANBA has a tradition of putting out great special stories. Its award-winning Special Reports section remains in place. For the new website’s premiere, Bruna Garcia brings you a story on Brazilian women who deal with or work in the Arab world. And culture is back in the spotlight in Al-Sharq: an article written especially for the new site covers the Arabic course of the University of São Paulo.
Last week, during the website’s pre-launch, ANBA ran an exclusive interview with Brazil’s Agriculture minister Blairo Maggi, who said Arabs are strategic partners of Brazil’s agribusiness industry: “We have a good partnership that can expanded and we’re working on this.”
The number of daily features on the news agency’s homepage has increased from three to six, and space has been added in the Portuguese version for news straight from the Arab world – in the Arabianas section – and in the English version for information on Brazil – in Braziliana. The room available for pictures and other media has also increased significantly.
More than just news content, ANBA’s homepage and inner pages now feature ad space available to Brazilian and Arab companies. The ads are initially available for Arab Brazilian Chamber members.
About ANBA
ANBA is the news website of the Arab Brazilian Chamber. Its mission is to promote communication between Brazilians and Arabs.
The website features reports on economics, business and foreign trade on a daily basis, with an emphasis on Brazil’s relations with the 22 Arab countries. It also runs material on diplomacy, tourism, culture and sports. All stories are available in Portuguese and English.
ANBA was created in September 2003. Ever since, it has won 11 journalism prizes in Brazil and was a finalist for several others. The agency sustains partnership agreements with ten press outlets in Brazil and the Arab countries.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
