|
 The complementarities between the economies of Brazil and of the Arab countries are becoming more and more evident, in the opinion of Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce president Antonio Sarkis Jr.
"Trade is already consolidated, and the Arabs must mainly import in the agricultural area, whereas Brazil has a natural talent to become one of the world leaders in this sector," he said during a press conference, July 8, in São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil.
He pointed out that Brazil already has important participation in the Arab food market, and the country has great need for fertilizers produced in the Middle East and North Africa.
Just to give an idea, Brazilian exports of foods to the region generated US$ 2.4 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of 21.41% over the same period last year.
Sarkis pointed out items like dairy products, whose exports grew 92% and reached US$ 48 million, eggs, whose shipments generated US$ 17.9 million, expansion of almost 2,000% and meats, whose sales totaled US$ 1.4 billion, 47% more than in the period from January to June 2007.
On the other lane, Fertilizers were the second item in the Brazilian import basket from the Arab nations in the first six months of this year, with purchases totaling US$ 359 million, growth of 220% over the first quarter in 2007. According to the Arab Brazilian Chamber, the Arabs import 90% of the food they consume and Brazil, 70% of the fertilizers it needs. That is an example of complementarity.
In this respect, the Chamber has been working more and more on reciprocal investment and partnerships between Brazilians and Arabs. "This is our main focus for the end of the year," stated Sarkis.
He recalled that total exports from the Arab countries generated US$ 809 billion last year, and imports, US$ 560 billion, generating a surplus of US$ 249 billion. "These are funds that were invested in infrastructure and in the improvement of the population's living conditions up to now," said the Arab Brazilian Chamber president.
Apart from agribusiness, the organization has been trying to promote business in the area of tourism, not just to bring Arab tourists to Brazil, but also to attract investment to the sector. The organization is establishing cooperation agreements with the ministries of Agriculture and Tourism.
Sarkis pointed out that an event that contributed to the increase of trade and opened possibilities for advances in economic relations was the creation of the direct flight between Dubai and São Paulo by Emirates Airline, now a daily route. "This has greatly simplified the life of businessmen and expanded reciprocal knowledge," he said.
Anba - www.anba.com.br
 |
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.