{"id":255470,"date":"2019-08-26T16:08:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T19:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=255470"},"modified":"2019-08-26T17:26:04","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T20:26:04","slug":"minister-would-like-to-see-arab-investment-in-agribusiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/minister-would-like-to-see-arab-investment-in-agribusiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister would like to see Arab investment in agribusiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Brazil\u2019s minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply Tereza Cristina<\/a> (pictured)<\/em> said this Monday (26) that she\u2019d like to see Arab investment in Brazilian agribusiness. She spoke during an event at the offices of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong><\/a>, in S\u00e3o Paulo, to an audience of executives, mostly from Chamber member companies, and guest authorities.<\/p>\n

Cristina said the potential is in place for Brazilian-Arab business to increase through investments. \u201cThe Arab League comprises some of the leading investors in the world, and they are stepping up their investment in different parts of the world,\u201d she said, noting that Brazil does not rank among the leading destinations for investments from those countries, even though it\u2019s a top-ten target for worldwide investors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hannun and the minister: conversation with the audience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The minister said opportunities are ripe in various agribusiness production chains, like inputs, machinery, production, processing, storage, distribution, transport, research, technology, and innovation. \u201cThe resumption of growth in Brazil hinges on internal and external resources, to be applied into different sectors of the economy, especially in direct or indirect connection with agribusiness, as is the case with infrastructure,\u201d said Tereza Cristina.<\/p>\n

According to her, Brazilian agribusiness boasts high productivity, but some aspects, from farm to seaport, detract from its international competitiveness. One of the main chokepoints right now is the need to modernize and expand the infrastructure for shipping off product. \u201cThis challenge requires international partnerships in order to be overcome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Tereza Cristina also pinpointed fruit juices as a sector to be invested in, noting that Brazil is the third biggest producer of raw materials for fruit juice, and the leading orange juice exporting country. \u201cWith a few short examples, we have shown there\u2019s plenty of room for strategic, long-term, win-win strategies. The fraternal relations between the Arab community and Brazil are surely a great foundation for these partnerships,\u201d she argued.<\/p>\n

The minister went on to discuss Arab-Brazilian partnerships in commerce, especially of agribusiness products. \u201cWe are familiar with the requirements of Arab markets, and its consumers know and approve of our products. We take great pride in being one of the leading halal protein exporters in the entire world,\u201d she said. Brazilian-Arab trade amounts to USD 20 billion a year, 70% of which come from agribusiness.<\/p>\n

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Tereza Cristina wants increased variety in exports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the minister would like to see those numbers go up through an increase in sales of products already being traded and the addition of new items. \u201cBrazil is perfectly able to increase its sales of various agricultural products already being sold to the Arab League, but whose relevance within total exports from Brazil to those country is minimal, cases in point being cotton, cocoa, and fresh or dried fruit like guava, mango and lime,\u201d said Cristina.<\/p>\n

She also told the audience that she\u2019s taking a trip to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE from September 11 to 23. \u201cThe goal is to find out what their needs and future outlook are, and advance Brazil\u2019s trade and investment relations with them,\u201d she explained. Cristina added that just like Arabs, Brazilians value lasting relationships underpinned by respect, transparency and reciprocity. \u201cThose shared values have brought us thus far, and will surely take us much further,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The minister spoke briefly about the issue that has drawn international attention to Brazil in the past few days \u2013 the Amazon rainforest fires. Cristina said remarks from France\u2019s president Emmanuel Macron were opportunistic. \u201cThis does tarnish the image of Brazil, which hadn\u2019t been all that great to begin with,\u201d she said, adding that nevertheless, common sense prevailed in G7 discussions on the matter. \u201cWe were backed by seven countries which said that separate things must be considered separately,\u201d the minister stated.<\/p>\n

Tereza believes Macron\u2019s stance has to do with the signing of the European Union-Mercosur agreement. \u201cIt has surely raised concerns in some countries, due to the strength of our agribusiness, to the markets we can take away. Particularly when it comes to Ireland, we sensed concerns regarding meats during our negotiations, and the same holds true of France. French farmers are rebelling against Brazilian products. They\u2019re trying to denigrate the image of our products due to a problem that\u2019s to do with trade, rather than the actual products,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Hannun: a study on food security<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In opening the event, Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun said the minister has been playing a key role in supporting and encouraging Brazil\u2019s trade with Arab countries. Hannun told Tereza Cristina and the audience that the Arab Chamber has been focusing more and more on agribusiness in the past few years. He also said the Chamber and the University of S\u00e3o Paulo ((USP)\u2019s Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (Esalq) are working on an in-depth study on food security in Arab countries and Brazil\u2019s role in that respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to take a step further from the occasional sales and purchases of food and agricultural products with Arab countries and to enter into a true strategic partnership,\u201d said Hannun. He also said that the study, which will cover farming, logistics and investment, will lead to comprehensive discussions and an action plan.<\/p>\n

These discussions will take place in events including a food security forum taking place later this year in the UAE, and a logistics forum slated for 2020 in Egypt. \u201cThese ongoing discussions will enable our Brazilian and Arab members to look to the future, to set goals in tandem with the Arab and Brazilian governments, and to take advantage of current opportunities,\u201d said Rubens Hannun.<\/p>\n

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The event was attended by executives and authorities<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The event was attended by Arab Chamber treasury director Nahid Chicani, International Relations VP and ambassador Osmar Chohfi, Foreign Trade VP Ruy Carlos Cury, Administrative VP Mohamed Orra Mourad, board members Daniel Hannun, William Atui and Mohamad Abdouni Neto, and former presidents Orlando Sarhan and Marcelo Sallum.<\/p>\n

Also in attendance were businessman and former Brazilian minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Luiz Fernando Furlan; the head of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs\u2019 S\u00e3o Paulo office, D\u00e9bora Vainer Barenboim-Salej; and Egypt\u2019s commercial consul to S\u00e3o Paulo, Mohamed Elkhatib, among other authorities.<\/p>\n

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

Rodrigo Rodrigues\/Arab Chamber<\/div>\n
Rodrigo Rodrigues\/Arab Chamber<\/div>\n
Rodrigo Rodrigues\/Arab Chamber<\/div>\n
Rodrigo Rodrigues\/Arab Chamber<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazil\u2019s Agriculture, Livestock and Supply minister Tereza Cristina discussed opportunities for Arabs to invest in the sector in Brazil, during a lecture this Monday (26) at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":255445,"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":[102],"tags":[9859,9906,10851,9270,1983,10584,10847],"class_list":{"0":"post-255470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agribusiness","8":"tag-arab-chamber-en","9":"tag-agribusiness-en","10":"tag-livestock-and-supply-en","11":"tag-minister","12":"tag-ministry-of-agriculture","13":"tag-tereza-cristina-en","14":"tag-tereza-cristina-na-camara-arabe"},"wps_subtitle":"Brazil\u2019s Agriculture, Livestock and Supply minister Tereza Cristina discussed opportunities for Arabs to invest in the sector in Brazil, during a lecture this Monday (26) at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255470","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\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}