(MENAFN- Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA))
São Paulo – The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) will be part of the delegation that'll accompany Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on a trip to China and the United Arab Emirates . Lula will fly to China on Sunday (26), and on March 31 he'll have appointments in Abu Dhabi, UAE'S capital, before returning to Brazil. ABCC CEO & secretary-general Tamer Mansour is part of the president's delegation that'll feature members of other entities, businesspeople, governors, senators, congressmen and ministers.
“The participation of the ABCC in the mission to China is strongly related to two of our leading projects, namely Halal Brazil and the implementation of product traceability,” Mansour said. The ABCC and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, known as ApexBrasil, launched a project aimed to take more added-valued foods from Brazil to the global halal market. The institution also aims to offer traceability via blockchain for halal-certified exports, thus allowing that the goods can be traced from their origin, whether it's in a farm or an industrial plant, to the point of consumption.
China is a halal consumer market
Although China isn't a Muslim-majority countries, it is the leading destination for halal-certified goods exported from Brazil, Mansour said. During the mission, the secretary-general wants Chinese partners to work on the local halal market and be able to offer expertise to Brazilian exporters on the requirements of China to buy halal. With respect to traceability, which is a project the ABCC is working on with Brazilian halal certifiers, Mansour said,“Why not start with a major importer like China?” The idea is to offer the product traceability technology to the Chinese.
China's demand for halal food is worth of USD 20 billion a year, and Muslim consumers in the country are as high as 26 million people, according to a survey carried out by the ABCC's Market Intelligence department. A large part of this consumption is concentrated in the region of Ningxia in the northwest of China, where you can see cultural, religious and commercial ties with Muslim countries. China is also a halal producer, ranking fifth on the list of top halal food exporters to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), behind China, India, the United States, and Russia.
President Lula's appointments in China will include meetings with president Xi Jinping, prime minister Li Qiang and National People's Congress chairman Zhao Leji on topics regarding trade, investments, reindustrialization, energy transition, climate change, and cooperation and peace agreements. The business party will also have business-focused appointments. Brazil is China's top agricultural exporter, according to information from the Brazilian government.
UAE
The ABCC will also accompany the presidential delegation in their visit to the UAE, a country where the institution is usually present in Brazilian high-level visits.“We had an excellent year in 2022 for both exports and imports with the UAE,” Mansour told ANBA. Brazilian exports to the Arab country climbed 40% last year to USD 3.2 billion, while shipments from the UAE to Brazil grew by 157% to USD 2.5 billion.“But we saw little private investment,” he said. The secretary-general believes the trip can be an opportunity to further explore this possibility, going beyond investments from sovereign funds and looking at areas like food security and renewable energy.
Lula will meet the leader of the UAE
Lula is travelling to the UAE by the invitation of Arab country's president Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan . During the presidential visit, they will meet to discuss matters related to the bilateral agenda like trade, investments, energy transition, climate change, and world security, as well as the role played by the UAE and Brazil in the United Nations Security Council as non-permanent members, according to information released to the press by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In both countries Mansour will take part in the appointments that the business delegation that'll accompany the president. The secretary-general ascribes the invitation to the partnerships the ABCC has developed with different agencies and ministries of the Brazilian federal government, including ApexBrasil, with which it develops the Halal Brazil project.“ApexBrasil sees the relevance of the ABCC beyond the borders of the 22 Arab countries and believes we can do the work to promote Brazilian value-added goods,” he said. The Halal Brazil has actions planned not only for the Arab countries but for other halal-consuming nations, too, like South America and Malaysia.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
Arab Brazilian Chamber
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