São Paulo – The trade relationship between Brazil and Morocco should grow in the next few months, after the visit of a group of Brazilian MPs to the Arab country in September. The president of the Brazil-Arab countries Parliamentary Group, Cleber Verde (from political party PRB-MA), said to ANBA this Wednesday(21st) that there’s interest from both sides in increasing trade and that a meeting with Brazilian entrepreneurs and Larbi Moukhariq, the Moroccan ambassador in Brasília, should take place early November. This Wednesday, the ambassador visited the MP in his office in Brasília.
“We talked about selling more products to Morocco and increase purchases from them. It’s a strategic partnership because it opens the gates of Africa to Brazilian products. Besides, Morocco is very close to Europe. We want to give continuity to the meetings we had and plan more meetings and events”, said Verde.
At the meeting with the ambassador and the minister-counselor at the Embassy of Morocco in Brasília, Mohamed Boulmani, Verde discussed increasing bilateral trade. “We should organize a mission of Brazilian businessmen interested in doing business with Morocco. It should take place in November,” he said. Morocco is interested in products such as aircraft and beef, Verde said.
Also according to the congressman, during the trip, members of both countries’ parliament discussed possibly organizing a trip of Brazilian Agriculture minister Kátia Abreu to the Arab country.
Mission
The Brazilian MPs travelled to Morocco at the invitation of the Moroccan embassy in Brasília. They were: Verde, Rosângela Gomes (affiliated with the PRB party’s chapter in Rio de Janeiro), César Halum (PRB-Tocantins state), João Bacelar (PR-Bahia state), Irajá Abreu (PSD-Tocantins) and the executive secretary of the Brazil-Arab Countries Parliamentary Group, Khalil Karam. In the Arab country, they were welcomed by House of Councilors president Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, the minister delegate to the minister of Foreign Relations and Cooperation, Mbarka Bouaida, the minister of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, Abdelkader Amara, and the prime minister, Abdel-Ilah Benkiran.
On the occasion, the Moroccan authorities presented their country’s projects for water and electricity, and noted that although Brazil is a diplomatic partner of Morocco’s, bilateral trade between the countries is still tentative.
According to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Morocco is Brazil’s third leading buyer in Africa, trailing Egypt and Algeria. In 2014, Brazil exported USD 568.2 million worth of goods to Morocco, the bulk of it being sugar. Conversely, Morocco is Brazil’s second leading supplier among the Arab African countries, Algeria being the first. Last year, Morocco shipped USD 1.24 billion in goods to Brazil, the majority of it being fertilizers.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani & Gabriel Pomerancblum
