Curitiba – The promotion of a seminar and a business fair on the Arab countries in Paraná was one of the main ideas suggested in the first two days of the visit of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil to the state. The idea is to promote the event in 2013, in Curitiba or Foz do Iguaçu, and to divide it into two parts: one turned to trade, investment and tourism and another to technical cooperation.
The ambassador of Algeria, Djamel Edinne Bennaoun, said on Tuesday (5), at a meeting between the Council and the deputy governor of Paraná, Flávio Arns, in Curitiba, that “the Arab world and Paraná have much potential to be used”. “In this respect, we have established a great project and seek the support of the government for a seminar on business, economic cooperation and experience exchange, in 2013,” he said.
The CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, informed that a commission will be established to plan and organise the event, with the participation of the organisation, the Council, the Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (Fiep) and the state government. “We decided to work with the Arab Brazilian Chamber to study themes of interest to both parties,” said the Tourism secretary of the state, Faisal Saleh. The objective is to exhibit products and present opportunities both on the side of Paraná and on the Arab side.
International cooperation, in turn, was the main topic of a meeting between diplomats and the mayor of Curitiba, Luciano Ducci. “The main objective of our visit is to improve relations between Paraná and Curitiba in all areas,” said Ramez Goussous, the dean of the council and ambassador of Jordan.
The ambassador of Palestine, Ibrahim Alzeben, suggested the signing of a “sister city” agreement between Curitiba and Bethlehem, in the West Bank, like the agreement signed between Foz do Iguaçu and Jericho. This way, according to him, the capital city of Paraná could take its successful urban administration experience to the Palestinians.
The mayor mentioned public transportation and a series of social programmes as options for cooperation. “We have significant interest in establishing partnerships between the sister cities,” said Ducci. “We have done so with some foreign [foreign] cities, which is important for the exchange of experience, and our Arab community is very strong, very present,” he declared.
The ambassador of Algeria suggested that each embassy could select a city for the possible signing of agreements. “We have much to do in the area of cooperation. Paraná has many possibilities for technology transfer and the Arab countries need that,” pointed out the diplomat.
The ambassador of Qatar, Jamal Al-Bader, was interested in opportunities for foreign investment in Curitiba. Ducci answered that the City Hall has been providing incentives to the areas of clean energy, tourism and health, and even offers tax breaks. He informed, for example, that the city has the world’s largest urban bus running on soy oil, and that the Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, this month, in Rio de Janeiro, the city should present a hybrid bus, powered on electricity and biodiesel, the first of the kind in Latin America.
At the meeting with the deputy governor, the ambassador of Kuwait, Yousef Abdulsamad, said that the Arabs are interested in investing in Brazil, but that they want to attract Brazilian investment to their countries. He pointed out that the government of Kuwait has a “multi-billion dollar” national development plan turned to the infrastructure and transport areas. “I want to invite companies from Paraná to participate in this plan,” he said.
In the same line, the ambassador of Iraq, Baker Hussen, said that his country has many opportunities for investment and that it needs “collaboration” with international governments and companies.
Arns, who is also the state secretary for Education, also raised the hypothesis of including in the curriculum of state schools in Paraná some sort of debate about the Arab countries, as a way to expand the volume of information about the region in the state.
The ambassadors also visited the head of the state Court of Justice, Miguel Kfouri Neto, who is of Arab origin. He was in the company of other justices of the court, most of Syrian and Lebanese descent.
*Translated by Mark Ament
