Dr. Khaled Hanafy, the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers, and Rubens Hannun, the President of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, met the acting president Hamilton Mourão and the minister of agriculture Tereza Cristina in Brasília, where they discussed ways to strengthen economic and trade relations between Brazil and the Arab world.
Hannun declared after the meeting "the talks dealt with the mechanisms of activating trade exchange between the Arab and Brazilian sides and the talks were relatively fruitful.” He also stressed that "the official Brazilian side is very interested in promoting economic cooperation with the Arab world, and they expressed their admiration for the very interesting views, presented by the Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Chambers Dr. Khaled Hanafi.”
Hannun revealed that the volume of exports to the Arab region could reach 20 billion US dollars in 2022, compared to 11.5 billion dollars registered last year, adding that "improved economic relations could contribute to the creation of 300,000 jobs during this period."
He added: "there is a strategic partnership between the Arab-Brazilian Chamber and the Union of Arab Chambers. This partnership serves the interests of the involved countries and the public and private sectors alike. There is interest from Brazil in maximizing cooperation in many fields, especially since the potentials are enormous in both the Arab and Brazilian sides and we are taking the right way towards that”.
The delegation presented to the Minister of Agriculture Mrs. Tereza Cristina, a study on the fields of cooperation between Brazil and the Arab world in the commercial agricultural sector. The study includes proposals on Brazil being the third largest trade partner of the Arab world. On her behalf, the Mrs. Cristina said: "Brazil understands the importance of the Arab countries and we want to deepen relations with these countries through the Union of Arab Chambers."
Hannun and Hanafi invited the Brazilian Vice President and Brazilian Minister of Agriculture to participate in the Arab Forum on Food Safety scheduled for the second half of 2019.
For his part, Dr. Khalid Hanafi the Secretary-General of UAC, suggested that the Brazilian side expand its activities in the Arab world by establishing logistic poles in Arab ports in order to obtain and distribute Brazilian products to the markets of the region and beyond.
Hanafi said that "Arab businessmen fear that Brazil will transfer its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, because this issue is completely rejected."
The President of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber Rubens Hannun and the Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr Khalid Hanafi, visited the President of BRF, which owns brands such as Sadia and Perdigão. The President of the company stated that "Arab countries are one of the main international markets of the company, which owns a food factory in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and part of shares in several food companies in the region."
Hannun and Hanafi held meetings with the head of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brazil) Mário Vilalva and the President of the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations Fernando Collor.
Source: (Arabic-Brazilian Chamber website, Edited)
