Arab Brazilian Chamber stand wins award at APAS Show

The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce won the Best International Stand award at the business fair APAS Show that runs until this Thursday (9) in São Paulo. The space features exhibitors from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. This is the second time the chamber is awarded at the event. The first one was in 2017, at the Business Generation category. “It is a great honor for the Chamber to have received this award, which indicates to our partners and staff that our job is yielding results, and they [the Arab countries] will see this award, which belongs to us all,” said the Arab Brazilian Chamber director William Atui. “It is a recognition of the work we develop and the concept we wanted to bring to this event,” added Marketing director Janine Menezes.

See also in this Thursday (9) ANBA Bulletin an interview with Lebanon’s minister of State for Foreign Trade Hassan Mourad. Born in São Paulo, he came to Brazil this week for a series of meetings with delegates from the Lebanese-descendant community, business leaders, and authorities. One of his goals is to continue discussions about the Lebanon’s free trade agreement with the Mercosur, which are ongoing since 2014. Mourad bets on the strength of the Lebanese-descendant community in Brazil to fuel trade, and reach other bilateral trade agreements. “Our intention is to carve out a market in Brazil for Lebanese products, especially for the Lebanese community, and the broader Arab community,” he said after meeting with the Arab Brazilian Chamber board in São Paulo.

And a sad news. Brazil’s ambassador to Lebanon, Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto, passed away on Wednesday. The diplomat and his wife, Vera Lúcia Ribeiro Estrela de Andrade Pinto, got involved in a car accident in Southern Italy. Vera Lúcia was also killed. In 2014, he was honored by the Arab Brazilian Chamber for his work. Cordeiro was then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ undersecretary-general on Africa, the Middle East and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).