São Paulo – The Qatari emir, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, is going to visit Brazil on the 20th this month. He will meet with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Brasília (the country’s capital). The Arab country’s head of state is also going to Argentina and Venezuela.
“It will be a political trip, he is going to signal to the Qataris the importance that South America, especially Brazil, has come to have,” said the Brazilian ambassador to Doha, the Qatari capital, Ânuar Nahes.
According to the diplomat, this will be the emir’s first visit to Brazil to address bilateral matters only. He has already been to the country in 2005 to attend the 1st Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa), a multilateral meeting. President Lula, in turn, visited Qatar in March last year, for the 2nd Aspa Summit, on which occasion he invited Thani to go to Brasília.
The emir will travel alongside the Qatari prime minister, Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani, who intends to meet with representatives of large state-owned and private Brazilian companies. The objective is to assess opportunities for investing in Brazil and carrying out business partnerships abroad.
According to Nahes, the two governments are also going to sign agreements on visas for diplomats and government officials, bilateral political consultations, air transport, elimination of dual taxation on air transport and, possibly, economic, technological and scientific cooperation.
Qatar is a small country in the Arabian Peninsula and is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), alongside Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman. With a small population , of 1.6 million, and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) boosted by the oil and gas industry, Qatar has one of the world’s highest per capita income rates.
Exports from Brazil to the Arab country totalled US$ 195 million last year, a 34% reduction in comparison with 2008. The main items shipped were raw meats, iron ore, electric material, industrialized meat and shotgun shells.
On the other hand, imports of products from Qatar totalled US$ 25 million, a reduction of 82% compared with 2008. Urea was virtually the only item imported.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
