São Paulo – Stepping up investments in Brazil is one of the objects of the visiting Omani delegation led by the Arab country’s minister of Commerce and Industry, Ali Al-Sunaidy. Speaking to executives at a seminar at the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) this Wednesday (03), he said he wishes to increase the amount of Omani investments in Brazil in years to come.
“I am visiting enterprises over the next few days; there are opportunities here,” the minister stated. Sunaidy also said Brazilian businesses can take advantage of the strategic location and infrastructure of Omani ports to extend the reach of their products in the Gulf. He added that Oman plans on increasing its foothold in the polyethylene (plastic), minerals (including marble) and tourism industries.
The Omani ambassador in Brazil, Khalid Al-Jaradi, asserted that the two countries enjoy good diplomatic relations, but their partnership in trade falls short of expectations. “Oman’s sovereign fund does have indirect investments in Brazil, but we are still far from fulfilling the potential of both countries. There are weak, almost non-existent tourist flows, little to no news about the countries on the local press on both sides, little to no student exchange, weak Omani exports to Brazil and little in the way of Omani direct investments in Brazil,” he said. “This visit is a real opportunity to learn about investment opportunities and, it is the first step of many in building a bridge between these two countries.”
Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce president Marcelo Sallum stated that measures can be taken to facilitate closer economic ties between the two countries. “Measures can be put in place to facilitate investments and minimize double taxation (when tax is levied in both the source and destination countries)”.
Following Sallum, Jaradi and Sunaidy’s addresses, the commercial manager of the Brazilian food company BRF, Matheus Patury Carneiro Leão, outlined Oman’s characteristics as a food buying market. The Brazilian Agriculture Ministry’s International Relations secretary, Tatiana Palermo, said rising demand for food in Asia should lead to a spike in Brazil’s exports to the region, and stressed that Oman and its Gulf neighbors will play a major role in this. She also said Brazil needs investments in logistics.
“Oman can be a partner. We are in touch with Gulf countries when it comes to investments. They are looking for a way to become a hub and we are looking to improve our infrastructure. We need modern infrastructure, one that can handle growing production from the ‘North Arch” (a region comprising the states of Bahia, Maranhão, Amazonas and Pará),” Palermo told ANBA.
The vice president of the Sohar Port, where mining company Vale has an iron ore pellet plant in Oman, Jamal Mohamed Aziz, said that the port offers infrastructure to distribute products throughout the Middle East. The investment director of the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF), Oman’s sovereign fund, Mulham Al Jarf, is also part of the delegation.
At the end of the seminar, the Arab Chamber’s CEO, Michel Alaby, said that Oman, in fostering closer relations to Brazil, is taking an “aggressive” economic stance, which could be good for both countries. “It’s important that they come here, get to know our country and its potential. And Brazilians, in turn, can get to know the structures that will allow them to become internationalized. This initiative of theirs can strengthen economic relations”, he said.
Agenda
The minister arrived in the country on Tuesday evening (02) for a series of events and meetings. On Wednesday morning, he visited the Arab Chamber, where a business matchmaking session between Brazilian and Omani companies took place. In the São Paulo state capital still, Sunaidy had meetings with the state’s vice governor, Márcio França, and with vice president, Michel Temer.
One of the Omani companies that took part in the business matchmaking at the Arab Chamber was international Business Development Group (IBD), which wants to establish partnerships with Brazilian companies for renewable energy projects in its country. “Our goal here is to capitalize on the experience, production capacity and improvements that Brazil has in the renewable energy sector, such as solar and wind energy”, said the group’s managing director, Mohamed Al-Marjabi.
The group is also interested in operating in risk reduction in the oil and gas sectors in Brazil. The holding group has businesses focused especially in services and equipment for the oil and gas sectors, in addition to business consulting and telecommunication products and services.
The company also operates with construction of refineries and is interested is partnerships with companies in Brazil. “We have an engineering company, which is the only one in Oman that works with implementation of refineries”, emphasized Marjabi.
This Thursday (04) in Brasília, Sunaidy will be at the first meeting of the Brazil-Oman Bilateral Joint Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty), and has meetings scheduled with ministers Armando Monteiro Neto and Kátia Abreu, of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade and Agriculture, respectively.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Sérgio Kakitani
