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São Paulo – Brazil will sign a bilateral visa waiver agreement with the United Arab Emirates during a visit to Brasília by the country’s minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Abdullah Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The information was made public by Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty), but without further details on the type of visitors that will gain visa-free entrances from one country to another.<\/p>\n
The UAE’s FM will be in the federal capital this Thursday (16) and will meet with president Michel Temer, plus the minister of Foreign Affairs, Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, the president of Congress, Eunício Oliveira (from political party PMDB), the minister of Defense, Raul Jungmann, and the minister of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, Marcos Pereira.<\/p>\n
According to a statement about the visit made public by Itamaraty, the meeting between the two FMs will discuss trade, investments and technical cooperation. They will also exchange positions on regional and global issues. An agreement on air services should be signed.<\/p>\n
According to Itamaraty, trade between Brazil and the UAE increased 785% between years 2000 and 2016 to USD 2.6 billion. The trade between the two countries generates a surplus of USD 1.9 billion to Brazil, and was the sixth largest last year. Itamaraty also stated that the UAE is a large international investor and calculates in USD 5 billion its investments in Brazil. <\/p>\n
In addition to Brasília, minister Nahyan will visit the capital of São Paulo. Next Tuesday (21), he will inaugurate the new headquarters of the General Consulate of the UAE in the city and will meet São Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin (from political party PSDB) and the São Paulo mayor, João Doria Junior (also from PSDB).<\/p>\n
ADIA in São Paulo<\/strong><\/p>\n Besides the Foreign Minister, a business delegation from the Arab country is also visiting Brazil. Representatives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the largest sovereign fund of the UAE, met with governor Alckmin this Wednesday (15) at Palácio dos Bandeirantes. The government presented to the delegation investments possibilities in the state’s infrastructure sector, according to information given to ANBA by the head of the São Paulo State Special Advisory for International Affairs, Ana Paula Fava, who attended the meeting. <\/p>\n The state has an ongoing concession program in the sector, from airports to highways and subways. Fava pointed out that the state has many products to offer for investments and that the fund is interested in investing in Brazil and in São Paulo. “They gained a general perspective of the different opportunities,” said Fava, saying that they asked questions and cleared doubts. “It was very productive,” she said.<\/p>\n The head of the Special Advisory for Foreign Affairs also pointed out that the meeting was a first personal contact by the fund with the governor and staff. Among the topics discussed was the positive fiscal performance of São Paulo state, while most of Brazilian states have been facing fiscal difficulties. According to Fava, the fund’s delegation was impressed with the fact. São Paulo state had a primary surplus of BRL 1.5 billion (USD 483 million) in 2016, according to data made available early this year. <\/p>\n ADIA’s delegation was headed by the CEO of the fund’s Department of Alternative Investments, Khalifa Al Mehairi. São Paulo state was represented by officials from many sectors, among them the State Secretary of Energy, João Carlos de Souza Meirelles, and the São Paulo secretary of state, Saulo de Castro. <\/p>\n *Translated by Sérgio Kakitani<\/strong><\/p>\n