São Paulo – The minister of Agriculture and Irrigation of Sudan, Ibrahim Hamid, visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce this Tuesday (10th) to meet Brazilian businessmen from the sectors of agricultural machinery and school supplies. He was followed by a delegation of representatives from the government and private sectors of Sudan. They were welcomed by the Arab Chamber’s CEO, Michel Alaby.
In the Sudanese delegation were: Anwar Khalifa, executive director of the minister of Agriculture’s cabinet; Mansour Fath Elrahman Mansour, director of the General Directory of Investments; Abd Elghani Elkarim, Sudan’s ambassador in Brasilia; and Alamin Abdellatif, president of CTC Group, a holding company operating in the agribusiness, engineering and electronics sectors. Rosanne Marchesich, vice-president of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Sudan, and Júlio Lage, FAO’s representative in Brazil, also attended the meeting.
The delegation’s visit to São Paulo ends the Sudanese agenda in the country, which started on the 2nd in Brasilia. They were at Brazil’s capital until the 7th to be introduced to the Brazilian school feeding program, which is paired with family agriculture production. On the 8th and 9th, they visited farms in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso state.
“We spent tem days here to get to know the Brazilian experience in poverty reduction and commercial agriculture. There are great opportunities for cooperation between Brazil and Sudan”, said Hamid in his presentation.
According to Hamid, agriculture accounts for 34% of Sudan’s GDP. Not including oil exports, agricultural products represent 90% of Sudan’s foreign trade. In the country, 54% of the workforce is within the agricultural sector. “Brazil can contribute with equipment and investments in Sudan”, the minister pointed out.
He also talked about the country’s infrastructure, with its 72 airports, six ports and more than 2,500 kilometers of navigable rivers.
Paulo Hegg, Brazilian businessman and partner at Brazilian Agroindustrial Company (BCA), which operates in the agricultural sector in Sudan, also talked about his experience in investing in the Arab country.
“It’s the African country better prepared to offer investment conditions, especially in agriculture and mining”, he said. According to him, the costs of food production in Sudan are much lower than in Brazil.
The businessman also highlighted another advantage of the Sudanese agriculture. “The country is extremely dry, which contributes to the non-proliferation of pests. Despite the dry climate, he said, Sudan has good irrigation conditions. Last year, BCA posted a turnover of US$ 22 million in Sudan, with plantations of cotton, sunflower, maize and beans crops.
The São Paulo state-based company of agricultural machinery, Jacto, operates in Sudan for six years already. The company exports pesticide agricultural sprayers to the Arab country through CTC. “There’s a big market there, with a great growth potential. They [the Sudanese] are investing a lot in agriculture. We consider them as one of our key markets in Africa”, assessed Marco Aurélio Cardoso, regional executive of sales.
Ambassador Elkarim emphasized the solid partnership with the Arab Chamber as a enabler for his country’s trade. “We consider the Arab Chamber as our strategic partnership in the promotion of business between Brazil and Sudan. This visit of a high-level delegation is a clear statement of Sudan’s choice for Brazil as its strategic business partner”, he said.
Education
In Brasilia, the Sudanese delegation attended meetings with Itamaraty (Ministry of External Relatioins), the National Fund for Education Development, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the National Supply Company (Conab) and the National Council on Food and Nutrition Security (Consea).
The government delegation talked with Patrus Ananias, minister of Agrarian Development, and with Arnoldo de Campos, National Secretary of Food and Nutritrion Security of the Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger.
As mentioned, the goal of the visit to Brasilia was to get to know the Brazilian school feeding program. “One of the most important things is that Brazil has paired food security and poverty reduction directly with small farmers and that matters not only for the farmers to improve their economic situation, but for the economy [of the country] as a whole”, said Hamid.
Besides the knowledge about school feeding, the Sudanese government is also interested in purchasing school supplies from Brazil. In the meeting in São Paulo, Nicolay Candalaft, exports manager of Faber-Castell in Brazil, talked about the intention of his company of supplying products to the Arab country.
“The goal in Sudan is to expand our participation in the African continent, but also to introduce a project of a school program of education aid. The most important thing is to contact the government to have a distribution program of Faber-Castell products for schools in Sudan”, said the executive.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani