|
Bilateral trade (export plus imports) between Brazil and the Arab countries was over US$ 8.1 billion in 2004. In spite of the increase of 49.7% in comparison to 2003 - much higher than the total increase in the Brazilian trade balance, which was of 31.2% -, the volume still does not represent the existing opportunities and may increase more.
This is the opinion of the chairman of the Jordanian Businessmen's Association and the Arab Businessmen's Federation, Hamdi Tabba'a.
"As Brazil is an economy that is complementary to that of the Arab countries, it is possible to diversify trade exchanges of food products, machinery, equipment, raw materials, as well as technology, especially in the agro-industrial and biotechnology areas, and in the field of joint projects in civil construction and industrial developments," he said in an interview by email.
Tabba'a is the owner of Al-Tewfik Automobile & Equipment, which represents in Jordan brands such as Renault, Chrysler and Jeep, and was once the minister of Industry and Trade in his country.
He will lead a delegation of 49 Arab businessmen who will come to São Paulo, on the 14th and 15th of this month, to participate in business roundtables with representatives from Brazilian companies.
In his evaluation, in order to strengthen economic relations between Brazil and the Arab countries, the development of transport, including the creation of direct flights and the increase in the flow of vessels, is necessary.
"There are also good perspectives in the tourism sector, we could establish exchange of tourists coming from the Arab countries to Brazil, and from Brazil to the Arab countries," he added.
The entrepreneur said, however, that the existence of a huge Arab colony in Brazil is a great advantage.
"There is a great need to increase our contacts and explore potentials for expanding trade, investment, tourism and cooperation in many fields between us.
"Brazil could easily serve as the focal point for an active Arab-Latin American relationship. We invite our partners in Brazil to consider joint ventures with their Jordanian and Arab counterparts," he said.
The mission, which will focus mainly on buying, will have participants from Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq.
According to Tabba'a, the delegation represents "prominent Arab businessmen in the fields of industry, commerce, agriculture, contracting, water treatment and telecommunications."
In what concerns trade between Brazil and Jordan, he believes it is possible to diversify the exchange of products and technologies, and the same is true to all Arab countries.
The exports from Brazil to Jordan, according to information from the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), reached US$ 63.2 million last year, an increase of 70.6% in relation to 2003. Imports, on the other hand, were of US$ 411,400.
The main products sold by Brazil to the Arab countries are aluminium alloys, plates and strips, poultry, chassis with motors for automobiles, sugar and coffee. Brazil imports from Jordan basically pesticides and pharmaceutical products.
On the Brazilian side, he believes it is possible to diversify trade of various kinds of products and services. "Jordanian exports of medicine, Dead Sea products and fertilizers would have a good market in Brazil," says Tabba'a. On top of that, the businessman added that his country offers incentives to foreign investments.
Opportunities in Iraq
He also stated that Brazilian businessmen may use Jordan as an export base to Iraq. "Using the special relations that Jordanian businessmen have with Iraqi businessmen, especially in the trade sector, exports to Iraq during 2004 reached US$ 436 million," stated Tabba'a.
According to the businessman, his country has become a "hub of cooperation" for foreign companies interested in entering the Iraqi market.
"There are many opportunities in different sectors, such as contracting, food products, pharmaceutical products, water and irrigation, energy and electricity projects, as well as the information technology and communications sector," he declared.
"Jordan is qualified to be the hub for such services to the Iraqi market. A great number of North American companies already have offices in Amman," he added.
Contact
Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB)
Marketing of Foreign Trade Departments
Tel: (+55 11) 3283-4066
marketing@ccab.org.br
comex@ccab.org.br
ANBA – Brazil-Arab News Agency
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.