São Paulo – Government officials and business executives from Arab and South American countries convened yesterday and today in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the forming of joint ventures in logistics and shipping involving companies from both regions. From Brazil, the conference held by the Arab League was attended by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce Government Relations manager Tamer Mansour, the consultant Marcos Valentini, the chairman of port administrator Empresa Maranhense de Administração Portuária, Eduardo Lago, and the Brazilian ambassador in Cairo, Rui Amaral.
“Arab private organizations were advised to carry out in-depth studies [on joint venture formation] before presenting actual projects at the next meeting,” Mansour said this Thursday (14th). The next meeting on the topic is slated for the second half of this year in Bolivia or Brazil.
The creation of non-stop sea routes and of partnerships involving businesses from the two regions were priority requests from Arab entrepreneurs at the business forum that preceded the last Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa), held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last November.
According to Mansour, Valentini presented once again a study on sea transportation between the two regions commissioned from him by the Arab Chamber, and Lago went over investment opportunities in Maranhão state’s Itaqui Port. Mansour delivered a lecture about the role of chambers of commerce in fostering business in shipping and logistics.
According to him, a relevant number of Arab businessmen attended the conference, as well as authorities including the Egyptian minister of Transportation, Galal Mostafa Mohamed El Saeed, the Arab League secretary general Nabil Al Arabi and joint secretary for economic affairs Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri, and the ambassadors of Ecuador, Argentina, Peru and Chile, and the consuls of Uruguay and Paraguay.
Agreement
In Cairo, Mansour also signed an agreement with the General Organization for Export and Import Control (Goeic), an arm of the Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Commerce, to begin online certification of exports from Brazil to the Arab country.
He also had a meeting with delegates from the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (Gafi) to discuss having a Brazil-Egypt Business Forum.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
