São Paulo – The ports of Duqm, in Oman, and Santos, in Brazil, are planning on signing a memorandum of understanding to foster cooperation in training, information exchange and technological qualification. The issue was discussed this Wednesday (14th), during a visit of the Omani delegation to the port facilities in the coastal city in the state of São Paulo.
The head of the Arab delegation, Yahya Said Abdullah Al Jabri, is the chairman of the Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority, where the Omani port is located. The group comprises delegates from agencies, free zones, ports and state-owned companies based in the Gulf country.
“The Duqm port is new, while ours dates from 1892 and is Latin America’s largest,” said the CEO of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, who accompanied the visit to Santos. “Considering the larger structure available in Santos, we suggested for the two parties to enter into this strategic partnership,” he added.
The Omanis were welcomed by the Santos Port chairman Angelino Caputo e Oliveira and by the Promotions manager Wagner Moreira Gonçalves. According to Alaby, the Santos port authority commited to forwarding a draft of the agreement to the Duqm Port, to be perused and then signed. Alaby is hoping the deal will be closed this year and the first cooperation action will be outlined shortly thereafter.
Aside from discussing the deal, the delegation watched a presentation on the Santos Port and then took a boat ride to see a few terminals, like Embraport, controlled by Brazil’s Odebrecht and Dubai’s DP World, and Brasil Terminal Portuário, operated by the Dutch companies TIL and APM Terminals. The latter is also active in Oman’s Salalah Port.
The visit was the final appointment in the Omani delegation’s schedule in Brazil, which started last Monday (12th) with the Brazilian-Omani Economic Forum, in São Paulo.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
