São Paulo – United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Food Security Mariam Bint Mohammed Almheiri had meetings with Brazilian authorities in Brasília this Thursday (3). Alongside UAE ambassador Hafsa Al Ulama, she convened with Brazil’s incoming Agriculture minister Tereza Cristina, foreign minister Ernesto Araújo and Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) chairman Sebastião Barbosa and other board members.
The UAE ambassador to Brasília said on her Twitter account that the meeting with Tereza Cristina covered partnerships in cooperation and food security – a crucial matter for the predominantly desert country which relies heavily on food imports.
As per an Embrapa press release, agriculture accounts for a measly 0.7% of the UAE’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in Brazil that rate is 23%.
The Embrapa executives told Almheiri about the key role played by scientific research in advancing Brazilian agriculture and livestock farming. As a case in point she mentioned the poultry industry, which saw 59-fold growth over four decades. The Middle East is currently the biggest market for poultry from Brazil.
The UAE minister tweeted photos of her visit to Embrapa and said the company played a major role in Brazil’s going from a net importer to a net exporter of agribusiness products.
Almheiri also toured Embrapa’s Genetic Resources and Biotechnology unit (pictured at the beginning of this article), which boasts the biggest bank of vegetable species in Latin America and one of the biggest in the world.
The minister and ambassador also met with Brazil’s foreign minister Ernesto Araújo. According to the Embassy, the meeting was intended to enhance Brazil-UAE diplomatic relations.
On Tuesday (1), Almheiri watched president Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration ceremony in Brasília.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
