{"id":252459,"date":"2019-07-18T17:52:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T20:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=252459"},"modified":"2019-07-19T18:35:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T21:35:48","slug":"piaui-governor-looks-to-build-closer-ties-with-arabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/piaui-governor-looks-to-build-closer-ties-with-arabs\/","title":{"rendered":"Piau\u00ed governor looks to build rapport with Arab countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Piau\u00ed governor Wellington Dias is planning to enhance the state<\/a>\u2019s relations with Arab countries. He paid his first-ever visit to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong><\/a> headquarters in S\u00e3o Paulo this Thursday (18). Alongside Partnerships and Concessions superintendent Viviane Bezerra, governor Dias (pictured, on the left<\/em>) presented projects, investment and public-private partnership opportunities in education, clean energy, infrastructure etc. The governor was welcomed to the Arab Chamber by president Rubens Hannun (R<\/em>) and CEO Tamer Mansour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a world of opportunity in Piau\u00ed, and we are interested in this connection with Arab countries,\u201d said Dias. As potential partnership and investment targets, Dias and Bezerra mentioned roads, sanitation, internet connections, airports, railways, light rails, convention centers, and the Port of Lu\u00eds Correia. \u201cWe wish to enhance the direct connection that the Arabs have with Piau\u00ed and Northeast Brazil,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n

Clean energy, including solar and wind power, is another possibility for Piau\u00ed-Arab investment and partnerships. A case in point is a project to build, maintain and manage eight mini-photovoltaic power stations via public-private partnerships. Arabs, especially in the Gulf, are investing heavily in renewable energies, and Dubai is planning to build the world\u2019s largest photovoltaic station by 2030.<\/p>\n

Piau\u00ed is a member of Cons\u00f3rcio Nordeste<\/em> (the Northeast Consortium), created last March and comprising the region\u2019s nine states (Maranh\u00e3o, Piau\u00ed, Cear\u00e1, Rio Grande do Norte, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco and Para\u00edba). The entity is a joint administration tool designed to increase state-to-state cooperation, improve allocation of public resources, boost exports, facilitate student and worker exchange, and create a fund to provide financing and resources.<\/p>\n

Dias said most Arab goods that are sold in Piau\u00ed come from elsewhere in Brazil, especially the Southeast. \u201cOur relations with Arab countries are bigger than what trade numbers portray. We wish to get more goods directly from Arab countries, as well as to supply more goods from our state directly to those countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dias discussed partnership and investment opportunities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arab Chamber numbers show that in 2018, Piau\u00ed ranked 22nd<\/sup> in exports from Brazilian states to Arab countries, with USD 2.4 million in sales and soy as the top-selling product. Piau\u00ed also ranked 22nd<\/sup> in imports, with fertilizer purchases from Egypt leading the way at USD 1.61 million. The state ranked 18th<\/sup> in exports to the entire world and 25th<\/sup> in imports from the world in 2018, and 26th<\/sup> in exports and 22nd<\/sup> in imports in H1 2019.<\/p>\n

The governor encouraged a partnership in education. He said there\u2019s a language school in the state where English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Mandarin through videoconferencing with native teachers in their own countries. \u201cWe would like to add Arabic and to build that rapport. It could be good for both sides,\u201d said the governor. Arab Chamber CEO Tamer Mansour said the Sultanate of Oman is interested in educational partnerships. \u201cThis is the kind of project the Chamber needs, with more than just a trade-oriented vision,\u201d said Hannun.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, the governor got invited to Wetex<\/a>, a clean energy, water, environment and technology exhibition taking place in Dubai from October 21 to 23. Dias said he will attend. He also confirmed his attendance to Arab Chamber-hosted 2nd<\/sup> Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum, slated for April 16, 2020 in S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

The governor invited Hannun to the Northeast Governors\u2019 Forum on August 21 in Teresina, Piau\u00ed, and to the Northeast edition of the Abdib F\u00f3rum<\/a>, an event for business owners and governors hosted by the Brazilian Infrastructure and Base Industries Association, on August 22. Both invitations were accepted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dias and Bezerra with Arab Chamber directors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt was a very productive meeting. We\u2019re interested not only in buying and selling, but also in building strategic partnerships between Piau\u00ed, Northeast Brazil and the Arab countries,\u201d said Hannun.<\/p>\n

Both parties suggested joint actions, including meetings and a mission of Northeast governments to the Arab countries, at a date to be set in 2020.<\/p>\n

The meeting was attended by the Arab Chamber\u2019s Administrative VP Mohamed Mourad, Foreign Trade VP Ruy Cury, director William Atui, Marketing and Strategy director Janine Bezerra de Menezes, Marketing manager Karina Cassapula and Institutional Relations manager Fernanda Baltazar.<\/p>\n

Dias is into his fourth term as governor of Piau\u00ed (2003-2006, 2007-2010, 2014-2018, 2019-2022).<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bruna Garcia\/ANBA<\/div>\n
Bruna Garcia\/ANBA<\/div>\n
Bruna Garcia\/ANBA<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his first time visiting the Arab Chamber, Wellington Dias discussed potential partnerships in clean energy, infrastructure and education. He and the organization also agreed to undertake joint efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2305,"featured_media":252438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[10010,2297,10011,10013,7962,10014,10015,10016,10008,10017,33179,10018,10009,10012,9267,10019,10020,10021,10022,2100],"class_list":{"0":"post-252459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business-opportunities","8":"tag-abdib-forum-en","9":"tag-clean-energy","10":"tag-consorcio-nordeste-en","11":"tag-forum-nordeste-en","12":"tag-infrastructure","13":"tag-investment-en","14":"tag-partido-dos-trabalhadores-en","15":"tag-piaui-en","16":"tag-piaui-governor","17":"tag-ppp-en","18":"tag-ppp-en-2","19":"tag-pt-en","20":"tag-public-private-partnership","21":"tag-renewable-energy-en","22":"tag-solar-power","23":"tag-teresina-en","24":"tag-viviane-bezerra-en","25":"tag-wellington-dias-en","26":"tag-wetex-en","27":"tag-wind-power"},"wps_subtitle":"In his first time visiting the Arab Chamber, Wellington Dias discussed potential partnerships in clean energy, infrastructure and education. He and the organization also agreed to undertake joint efforts. ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}