Secretary General of UAC Discusses Prospects for Arab-Brazilian Economic Cooperation

  • Beirut, Lebanon
  • 21 March 2019
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The Ambassador of Brazil in Lebanon, Paulo Cordeiro, visited the headquarters of the Union of Arab Chambers, where he met with the Secretary General of the Union, Dr. Khaled Hanafi, and discussed the joint relations between the Arab countries and Brazil and ways to strengthen them in various economic fields.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Khalid Hanafi, the Secretary-General of UAC, welcomed the Brazilian Ambassador, pointing to the depth of the Arab-Brazilian relations, stressing the importance of deepening and strengthening the economic cooperation between Brazil and the Arab world in many key sectors, especially in agriculture and logistics. Considering that the Brazilian economy is one of the most important economies in the world. As an Arab world, we want our partnership with Brazil to be strategic. This is why it is necessary to maximize the volume of trade, goods, services, technology, tourism and logistics between the Arab and Brazilian sides so as not to remain as modest as it is currently."

Dr. Hanafi mentioned Brazil's intention to move the Brazilian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, confirming that "this is completely unacceptable from the Arab side, and this is what I informed the Brazilian Vice President during the visit I made before to Brazil, because of the negative impact on the Political and economic relations between the two sides, "stressing that "the Arab private sector has concerns and fears of this subject because any such step would harm the economic relations that we aspire to promote to a greater level."

For his part, Ambassador Cordeiro pointed out to the ties of the Arab-Brazilian relations, saying "my presence as the Brazilian Ambassador in more than one Arab country has made me able to create strong friendships with many Arab officials, and I am striving to employ them in developing the Arab-Brazilian economic relations to reach to high levels especially in light of the human and natural resources of the Arab world and Brazil abounds."

Mr. Ambassador explained that "the Arab concerns about the transfer of the Brazilian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem are taken into account, because it is very important to keep our friendship strong. The leadership in Brazil has for years and years supported the issues of the Arab world in international forums, especially the Palestinian Cause.

He also said: "Brazil is very interested in the reconstruction phase in the countries affected by the war in the previous phase, especially Syria and Iraq, and I think that Lebanon and namely Tripoli port in Lebanon can play a pivotal role in this field, given its strategic location on the Mediterranean."

 

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