Agência Brasil*
São Paulo – To the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Antonio Sarkis Jr., closer ties between Brazil and the 22 countries of the League of Arab States takes place both in the commercial area and in the cultural and political area, and one pushes the other. In an interview to Agência Brasil, Sarkis discussed the importance of signing, at the beginning of March, an agreement between the Chamber and the Ministry of Foreign Relations to organize activities that proceed with the summit of Arab and South American countries, which took place last year in Brazilian capital Brasília. The agreement was published in the Official Gazette on March 16.
Sarkis also spoke about the meeting of ministers of the economic area of both regions, to take place in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, on April 25 and 26. Below, the main stretches of the interview:
Agência Brasil – What is the importance of the signing of these agreements for the establishment of closer ties between both blocs and, mainly, for Brazil with the Arab countries?
Antonio Sarkis Jr. – I believe that for the Chamber it is of fundamental importance as the organization has always worked on relations between Brazil and the Arab countries in the commercial, cultural and political areas. There is great lack of information. Brazilians had no real notion of the potential of the Arab countries in the economic and cultural areas, and this knowledge was built over time. The same occurred on the Arab side, which learnt more about Brazil, a country that has competitive prices, quality products and is amiable.
Arabs like Brazilians very much. The amiability of Brazilians was a discovery to Arabs and this resulted in knowledge of business opportunities. One thing helps the other: trade helps bring both cultures together and both together help improve political ties. What we have seen in recent years was a set of positive factors that culminated in the summit, with visits by various Arab authorities to Brazil, like the recent visit of Jordanian prince El Hassan Bin Talal, and also the visit of president Lula to Algeria in February.
For closer ties to become concrete, there was need for direct flights between Brazil and the Arab countries, but does it seem that the first direct route has not worked out?
The route is a partnership between airline TAM and Middle East Airlines. It is in operation, but it does not seem to have managed to establish flight hours that make it excellent. The difficulty of this agreement is in the time of arrival of TAM aircraft in Paris and of Middle East aircraft in Beirut. But we also already have news, as Emirates Airline is getting ready to inaugurate a direct flight between São Paulo and Dubai, and the company already has authorization to operate a direct flight between Dubai and Rio de Janeiro.
We also do not have a direct maritime shipping line. Is this one of the themes you hope to advance on in Ecuador?
Yes. We have been working and feel from Arab businessmen that this is a factor that is not favourable to Brazil: the delay in the arrival of products and the lack of direct shipping lines. This is, in my opinion, one of the main factors to be faced.
How does Brazil currently ship chicken to Saudi Arabia, for example?
Some companies have signed agreements with a company that has a direct shipping route, but the agreement is only for the main exporters. There is a company that operates shipping directly to the Middle East, but it is not enough to supply the market.
Regarding the meeting in Quito, does it seem that there is great expectation regarding advances in the closing of an agreement between the Mercosur and the Gulf?
This agreement has been under discussion since the Brasília summit – when a framework agreement was signed – and I believe that it will be one of the main topics of the meeting in Ecuador.
*Translated by Mark Ament