Marina Sarruf*
São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce director in Syria, Hanna Saliba, showed interest in organizing a Syrian trade mission to São Paulo in the first half of 2006. Saliba travelled to Brazil accompanying the Syrian minister of Economy and Trade, Amer Lutfi, and the director of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Rima Kadri.
"Syria has opened its doors to imports of all kinds of products, textile, shoes, food and in future we also want to import cattle beef and live cattle," stated Saliba. According to him the idea is to bring at least one businessman from each sector for business roundtables in Brazil, with the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber. "I myself want to organize the trip," he said.
Saliba believes that the visit of the minister to Brazil was very important to help in the trade relations between both countries. "The minister came to discuss the economic improvement in Syria, which is going to help expand trade and exchange with Brazil," he said. Before arriving in Brazil and leaving to Cuba, Lutfi had already visited Argentina.
Saliba has been operating in the textile industry for 20 years and is a partner at Hanna & Matta Saliba. "We were the first company to produce jeans in Syria," he said. This is the second time he travels to Brazil. Hanna & Matta Saliba exports 90% of its garment production to all the Arab countries and Europe, Australia and Canada.
The businessman also already imports raw material from China, India, Korea and Europe. The company produces 1,500 pairs of jeans and 2,000 cotton T-Shirts a day. In total, 250 employees work for the company.
Arabs in Brazil
During the visit of the minister to São Paulo, Saliba accompanied Lutfi to some places established by immigrants and descendants of Syrians in Brazil, like the Heart Hospital and the Orthodox Cathedral. Saliba was impressed with the dedication of the Arabs to Brazil and stated he is very proud of that. "I am pleased to know that they contribute to the country economy," he said.
According to him, apart from trade, the Arabs also contribute in the area of health, with the construction of the Syrian-Lebanese hospital and the Heart Hospital. "The image that the Arab colony has in Brazil is marvellous," he said. "I have already visited many countries, but I have never seen the image that the Arab colony has here in any of them," he added.
*Translated by Mark Ament
