São Paulo – Brazil’s vice president Hamilton Mourão has pledged to help in several fronts to improve trade and investment between Brazil and the Arab countries. Mourão spoke in a webinar hosted by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday (13), which got 840 viewers, including Brazilians and Arabs.
The online conference was moderated by Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun and featured the entity’s vice presidents. Mourão suggested for the Arab Chamber to propose investment and double taxation prevention agreements with Arab countries. He also made himself available in helping create a direct shipping lane to transport goods between Brazil and the Arab countries.
The Arab Chamber vice presidents asked questions during the webinar, and treasury director Nahid Chicani mentioned double taxation. “It’s a burden that the investor carries when coming to Brazil,” Mourão said. But he pointed out that Brazil and the United Arab Emirates entered into cooperation and investment facilitation agreements last year to cut double taxation on revenue and prevent tax evasion.
He suggested that the same could be done with other Arab countries, with the Arab Chamber’s help. “This can be replicated with other countries. Through your connections, you could take it up with other countries, and we could build this framework little by little,” Mourão told the Arab Chamber executives.
When asked by Administrative vice president Mohamad Mourad on how to attract more investments from the Arab countries, Mourão said Brazil must present itself as a reliable partner to resource holders. In this sense, Brazil’s vice president said that the Arab Chamber can act as an enabler, bridging the gap and guiding the work of governmental bodies on how to better portray themselves to them.
On the creation of a direct shipping lane between Brazil and the Arab countries, a topic raised by Foreign Trade vice president Ruy Cury, Mourão said he was willing to help bring it to fruition. He proposed to find the best ports in Brazil to take in Arab goods and ship Brazilian-made products to Arab countries. Mourão said that one must sit to see what can be done. He suggested that chief of staff Braga Netto be involved in the matter.
The Arab Chamber has been working with the Union of Arab Chambers to develop a strategy for the direct shipping lane, which would cut shipping costs and lead times. A study started being drawn up and a seminar on the topic was schedule to run later this year in Alexandria, Egypt.
It was also agreed that the Arab Chamber will start working with the government to develop an agenda for the Arab countries during Brazil’s participation in the G20 summit next November. The group consists of the world’s 20 largest economies, including Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The Arab country is currently in the presidency of the G20. Hannun told Mourão that the G20 meeting would be a great opportunity to follow through with actions set in motion during president Jair Bolsonaro’s trip to the region last year.
Mourão said the event could indeed be used to establish connections with the Arab League countries, and that work toward this agenda can start with the Arab Chamber’s support. The aim is including in the agenda some of the topics discussed in the webinar to overcome the barriers in the trade and investment relations.
The possibility of attracting investment by Arab funds into the Amazon was also brought up by Arab Chamber International Relations vice president Osmar Chohfi. Mourão, who chairs the Legal Amazon’s National Council, welcomed the idea of having Arab investment in economic projects, to tap into the region’s potential without damaging the environment, as well as in the carbon credit project to keep the forest standing.
Mourão said he is counting on the Arab Chamber to bring these investments to fruition. Chamber president Rubens Hannun said the projects will be brought to the attention of Arab sovereign funds.
The Chamber’s Marketing vice president Riad Younes discussed investments by Brazilian companies in Arab countries. Hannun told Mourão that the Arab countries are keen on getting Brazilian businesses to set foot in the region, and that the Chamber is opening offices this year in Cairo, Egypt and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These offices should help Brazilian enterprises looking to enter Arab countries, as well as encourage trade flows.
Hannun and Mourão discussed the leadership role that Brazil could take on in the world right now. The Brazilian vice president believes the pandemic will reshuffle international geopolitics, and this could be an opportunity for Brazil. However, he sees a need for internal organization to that end, and believes leadership is built through example and knowledge.
“We need to sort out our own mess in here, so to speak. We need to stop with all the quarreling that is going on these days and regroup. Then we will have the conditions to bring in our friends from South America and to introduce ourselves to players in the Arab world as a truly reliable group which, through mutually beneficial interactions, can provide the Arab world with what is most crucial to them, which is food security. And we can get from them other products we need, so that our trade relations remain balanced at all times,” he said.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda & Gabriel Pomerancblum
