São Paulo – Syphax Airlines, based in the city of Sfax, Tunisia, is planning on establishing a direct route connecting Brazil and the Arab country. The Foreign Trade vice president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Rubens Hannun, and its Government Relations executive, Tamer Mansour, have met with Syphax representatives this Friday (8th). The city also hosts Medibat, a construction industry fair at which the Arab Brazilian Chamber and Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have a booth.
Syphax Airlines is an incorporated company established by Mohamed Frikha, president of business group Telnet, and flies to domestic and international destinations, mostly in the Mediterranean. The company was founded to help boost economic development in Southern Tunisia, where the Sfax municipality is. According to the airline’s website, it has 45 offices in 34 countries. The company works out of the Sfax Thyna International Airport. According to Hannun, the Arab Brazilian Chamber should help enable the route’s implementation in Brazil.
Hannun and Mansour have been in Tunisia since the beginning of this week, where they had a series of meetings with authorities, in addition to attending the Medibat fair. According to Foreign Trade vice president, the trip was important for the contacts that were made. They had the opportunity to meet with the new officials in charge of different segments of the Tunisian economy, who were chosen in the post-revolution process.
“Tunisia is in transition, so it is important for us to begin this relationship,” says Hannun. According to him, this is the right time. “If we take too long we will lose space,” he says, referring to the interest the country is attracting from the international community. The vice president says he noticed, in today’s Tunisia, that businessmen are organizing in a more autonomous fashion, and the private initiative is playing a more active role in the economy, such as by organizing into entrepreneurial associations.
Aside from meeting with local businessmen and paying a visit to the Syphax Airlines headquarters this Friday, Hannun and Mansour had dinner on Thursday evening (7th) with the Tunisian ambassador-to-be in Brasília, Sabri Bachtobji, and the current Brazilian ambassador to Tunisia, Luiz Antônio Fachini Gomes. They discussed the current state of relations between Brazil and Tunisia, and how said relations can be reactivated, considering the reality of the Arab country today. Bachtobji should arrive in Brazil approximately a month from now.
The two Arab Brazilian Chamber representatives will leave Tunisia next Saturday (9th) headed for Saudi Arabia, where they will attend Big 5 Saudi, a construction industry fair due to take place from Saturday to Tuesday (12th) in Jeddah. The show is a version of the Big 5, held annually in Dubai and attended by importers from across the entire Arab world. Hannun and Mansour will go to the fair as visitors, to consider an eventual Arab Brazilian Chamber participation in coming editions.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum