Vice president Hamilton Mourão defended today (4), in the capital of São Paulo, the expansion of partnerships between Arab countries and Brazil. “We have to stop looking at ourselves as mere supermarkets. Each one comes to the other’s country and buys that product that is on the shelf,” he compared. He participated in the closing of the Brazil & Arab Countries Economic Forum, which brings together business and political leaders from 22 Arab countries.
“We observe that around 80% of Brazilian sales to Arab markets are of agricultural commodities, while approximately 90% of our imports from these same markets correspond to mineral fuels, fertilizers and fertilizers, essential inputs for our agricultural production”, exemplified the deputy. president.
He believes that there is room, therefore, for diversification of trade and services with Brazil. “We need to climb the ladder of this relationship and advance in the areas of technology, investment and become really strategic partners”, he pointed out.
Mourão also pointed out that Brazilian exports to the Arab nations have grown since 2003 and that, if taken as a whole, they would be Brazil’s third main trade partner for exports and fifth for imports. “Brazil has become the largest producer of halal protein in the world and works to provide other products adapted to the customs and traditions of the Islamic religion,” he added.
For the vice president, commercial partnerships with the Arab world gain a “strategic meaning” in view of the impacts of the successive crises observed in the 21st century, which include the “financial crash of 2008, political instability in different regions of the planet, the increasingly frequent environmental disasters, the geopolitical tension between the two largest economies in the world and, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“We need to work in partnership, in favor of initiatives that bring us mutual benefits, with greater resilience and security for our nations”, he proposed. Mourão also highlighted the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as another fact that creates instability in the world. “The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce has helped the public and private sectors work synergistically to identify and explore these opportunities.”
