São Paulo – Etihad Airways had its best performance in March since it started flying to São Paulo, in June 2013. The Abu Dhabi-based airline’s CEO in Brazil, Christophe Didier, said last month, the average occupancy rate of flights leaving from São Paulo was 75.2%. “It was the first time we had an average occupancy higher than 70%, a sensational performance,” said Didier last Wednesday (9th), during the opening cocktail party for the 2nd Japanese Cuisine Festival at São Paulo’s Intercontinental Hotel, which will continue until April 12th and is sponsored by the airline.

 Didier said performance last month was “sensational” because it represents the growth, in Brazil, of the airline and the Etihad brand, which was unknown upon arriving in Brazil. He ascribed the higher occupancy to the exclusive service the company offers its passengers.

“Etihad has been doing great work in Brazil. The flight leaves today at the best time (10:15 pm). It is the best time, because it is what passengers call for. They don’t want to fly early in the morning; they want to leave late in the evening. We have also succeeded in having a daily flight, despite the fact that the Guarulhos Airport handles large numbers of aircraft. In March, we had 75% occupancy, which is excellent considering that we have been operating for roughly eight months,” he said. Still, Didier said the company needs to keep growing and strengthening its brand in the country.

Higher demand during the World Cup

Etihad is expecting passenger demand to be up roughly 20% during the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Didier told ANBA that last Tuesday (8th), the company decided on using a larger aircraft in its flights to Brazil, probably from June to August. The event opens on June 12th and ends on July 13th.

The unit deployed will be an Airbus A340-600, which is a 292-seater, more than the aircraft flying the route connecting São Paulo and the capital of the United Arab Emirates at this time. The Airbus A340-500 currently in use has 240 seats.

This will not be the first time the airline temporarily switches aircraft in Brazil. In July last year, Etihad used a Boeing 777 in some flights during the World Youth Journey, which was attended by Pope Francis.

Etihad started flying to Brazil on June 1st last year, with three weekly flights between São Paulo and Abu Dhabi. Two months later, the flights went daily. Didier took charge of the company in Brazil in January this year, replacing Juan Torres who was allocated to the Philippines. Prior to working at Etihad, Didier spent nine years with Air France and fourteen years with the United States’ Delta Airlines.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a study this Friday (11th) warning that Arab countries undergoing political transitions and those which have completed said processes are faced with the challenge of balancing their economies over the long haul, so as to meet the demands from their populations which have triggered demonstrations and conflicts. These demands, according to the study “Toward New Horizons Arab Economic Transformation Amid Political Transitions,” include more participation in political decision-making and a business environment conducive to job creation.

The study assess the economic conditions of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, which had changes in government during the Arab Spring, and Jordan and Morocco, which have “have engaged in transformation under existing regimes.” In all of the countries surveyed, for instance, spending on transfers, wages and subsidies increased during the political transition years, from 2010 to 2013. On the other hand, fiscal balance has deteriorated.

Although the economic scenario of the countries assessed is delicate, the document notes that inflation, barring Yemen and Egypt, is below the average for emerging countries. There is room for raising the tax burden on natural persons, which is lower than in developing countries, except in Morocco.

One of the main short-term economic solutions set forth by the Fund is the adoption of measures that enable jobs to be created. “Experience from other countries suggests that well-designed infrastructure projects can create jobs and lay a better foundation private sector activity,” according to the study.

In the medium term, the countries at hand need to manage their fiscal deficits and increases in spending to prevent their debts from becoming unsustainable. The main recommendation t all countries is to gradually transition from government investment to private investment, because private companies, according to the document, are the ones capable of creating jobs and fuelling the economy.

The IMF says the countries in transition are capable of growing and increasing their populations’ access to quality jobs and services. It remarks, however, that several measures are needed, including reducing poverty, reforming the energy sector, adopting communication strategies to publicize the actions taken to the population and the business community, their costs and benefits, increasing spending on social assistance, and separating price and inflation policy from politics.

“Unless strong economic and fi nancial reforms are implemented, a gradual economic
recovery will not be enough to bring a meaningful reduction in the region’s high rates of
unemployment in coming years, particularly among women and youth.” Said the IMF director for the Middle East and North Africa, Masood Ahmed, according to the document.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – After a three-year period closed for its first full renovation, the Immigration Museum (Museu da Imigração, in Portuguese) will open its doors for the public again on May 31st. Restored and adapted to receive the public, the museum will now hold a permanent exhibition on the 2.5 million immigrants and migrants who have passed through it, besides documents, temporary exhibits and a space for research. 

 The repairs in the Immigration museum cost around US$ 9 million and were intended to adapt the building to host the museum’s public and collections. Built in 1887 to function as an inn, the building will have air conditioning, flood gates and adaptations for people with special needs. The building was repaired and even the institution’s name has changed from Immigrant’s Memorial to Immigration Museum. 

According to the executive director, historian Marília Bonas, the museum which will be reopened to the public will not only touch on early 19th century immigration, but on current immigration as well. “The curatorship has striven to expand the immigrants’ speech. We want to discuss the multiple voices of those who have passed through here to share the immigrants’ experience”, Bonas told ANBA. She also said that the institution will dialog with the immigrant communities and will have a “strong aspect of partnership” with society.

The new permanent exhibition will recall the old facilities of the Immigrants’ Inn. It will have eight modules which promise to have visitors immerse themselves in the Inn’s daily life. In one of the modules, the visitor will be “taken” to the cafeteria and hear the immigrants speak in several languages. From there, they will move on to the dorms, where they will be shown the expectations and dreams of the immigrants before they actually lived in Brazil. They will also watch videos with testimonies from former guests. Other modules will show immigration nowadays.

The Immigration Museum will have an auditorium, a cafe and a space for research on the topic. Visitors who want to use the library and the reference and research center will be accompanied by a museum employee. School groups will have a space to do activities and workshops connected to the theme of immigration.

History

The Immigrants’ Inn was opened to receive immigrants who came to Brazil to work. The first guests were Europeans who left their countries invited by the government of São Paulo after slavery was abolished. They came to replace slaves in the coffee crops. These employees came to Brazil by ship, with the tickets paid by the government of São Paulo. They disembarked in the port in Santos, went up the mountain by train and were hosted at the inn before being sent to work in the countryside.

 As the years passed by, the inn received immigrants of over 70 nationalities, among them Syrians and Lebanese. Brazilian people who came to São Paulo were also hosted there in the 1930s. “In the case of Arabs, they came from many places and focused on urban centers and commerce. Portraying Arab culture is a challenge because it is composed of many cultures and we are interested in bringing that to the public”, says the executive director.

After the closing of the Immigration Museum, its management has also changed. The institution belongs to the State Secretariat for Culture, but is run by the Social Cultural Organization for Friends of the Coffee Museum (Organização Social de Cultura Associação dos Amigos do Museu do Café, in Portuguese), which also runs the namesake museum in Santos, on São Paulo’s shore. The managers expect the Immigration Museum to have 500,000 visitors by the end of the year.

For the opening day, immigrant community theatre presentations and dance shows are scheduled, besides a concert by songwriter and singer Arnaldo Antunes. In June and July, the entrance is free. Besides the permanent exhibition, the Immigration Museum will host temporary exhibits.

Service
Immigration Museum
Rua Visconde de Parnaíba, 1.316, Mooca, São Paulo, SP
Reopening scheduled for May 31st
Visiting hours: from Tuesday to Saturday, from 9am to 5pm. On Sundays, from 10am to 5pm. Fortnightly, on Fridays, the institution will be open until 9pm.
For further information: www.museudaimigracao.org.br (in Portuguese)

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça

São Paulo – After a three-year period closed for its first full renovation, the Immigration Museum (Museu da Imigração, in Portuguese) will open its doors for the public again on May 31st. Restored and adapted to receive the public, the museum will now hold a permanent exhibition on the 2.5 million immigrants and migrants who have passed through it, besides documents, temporary exhibits and a space for research. 

 The repairs in the Immigration museum cost around US$ 9 million and were intended to adapt the building to host the museum’s public and collections. Built in 1887 to function as an inn, the building will have air conditioning, flood gates and adaptations for people with special needs. The building was repaired and even the institution’s name has changed from Immigrant’s Memorial to Immigration Museum. 

According to the executive director, historian Marília Bonas, the museum which will be reopened to the public will not only touch on early 19th century immigration, but on current immigration as well. “The curatorship has striven to expand the immigrants’ speech. We want to discuss the multiple voices of those who have passed through here to share the immigrants’ experience”, Bonas told ANBA. She also said that the institution will dialog with the immigrant communities and will have a “strong aspect of partnership” with society.

The new permanent exhibition will recall the old facilities of the Immigrants’ Inn. It will have eight modules which promise to have visitors immerse themselves in the Inn’s daily life. In one of the modules, the visitor will be “taken” to the cafeteria and hear the immigrants speak in several languages. From there, they will move on to the dorms, where they will be shown the expectations and dreams of the immigrants before they actually lived in Brazil. They will also watch videos with testimonies from former guests. Other modules will show immigration nowadays.

The Immigration Museum will have an auditorium, a cafe and a space for research on the topic. Visitors who want to use the library and the reference and research center will be accompanied by a museum employee. School groups will have a space to do activities and workshops connected to the theme of immigration.

History

The Immigrants’ Inn was opened to receive immigrants who came to Brazil to work. The first guests were Europeans who left their countries invited by the government of São Paulo after slavery was abolished. They came to replace slaves in the coffee crops. These employees came to Brazil by ship, with the tickets paid by the government of São Paulo. They disembarked in the port in Santos, went up the mountain by train and were hosted at the inn before being sent to work in the countryside.

 As the years passed by, the inn received immigrants of over 70 nationalities, among them Syrians and Lebanese. Brazilian people who came to São Paulo were also hosted there in the 1930s. “In the case of Arabs, they came from many places and focused on urban centers and commerce. Portraying Arab culture is a challenge because it is composed of many cultures and we are interested in bringing that to the public”, says the executive director.

After the closing of the Immigration Museum, its management has also changed. The institution belongs to the State Secretariat for Culture, but is run by the Social Cultural Organization for Friends of the Coffee Museum (Organização Social de Cultura Associação dos Amigos do Museu do Café, in Portuguese), which also runs the namesake museum in Santos, on São Paulo’s shore. The managers expect the Immigration Museum to have 500,000 visitors by the end of the year.

For the opening day, immigrant community theatre presentations and dance shows are scheduled, besides a concert by songwriter and singer Arnaldo Antunes. In June and July, the entrance is free. Besides the permanent exhibition, the Immigration Museum will host temporary exhibits.

Service
Immigration Museum
Rua Visconde de Parnaíba, 1.316, Mooca, São Paulo, SP
Reopening scheduled for May 31st
Visiting hours: from Tuesday to Saturday, from 9am to 5pm. On Sundays, from 10am to 5pm. Fortnightly, on Fridays, the institution will be open until 9pm.
For further information: www.museudaimigracao.org.br (in Portuguese)

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça

São Paulo – After a three-year period closed for its first full renovation, the Immigration Museum (Museu da Imigração, in Portuguese) will open its doors for the public again on May 31st. Restored and adapted to receive the public, the museum will now hold a permanent exhibition on the 2.5 million immigrants and migrants who have passed through it, besides documents, temporary exhibits and a space for research. 

 The repairs in the Immigration museum cost around US$ 9 million and were intended to adapt the building to host the museum’s public and collections. Built in 1887 to function as an inn, the building will have air conditioning, flood gates and adaptations for people with special needs. The building was repaired and even the institution’s name has changed from Immigrant’s Memorial to Immigration Museum. 

According to the executive director, historian Marília Bonas, the museum which will be reopened to the public will not only touch on early 19th century immigration, but on current immigration as well. “The curatorship has striven to expand the immigrants’ speech. We want to discuss the multiple voices of those who have passed through here to share the immigrants’ experience”, Bonas told ANBA. She also said that the institution will dialog with the immigrant communities and will have a “strong aspect of partnership” with society.

The new permanent exhibition will recall the old facilities of the Immigrants’ Inn. It will have eight modules which promise to have visitors immerse themselves in the Inn’s daily life. In one of the modules, the visitor will be “taken” to the cafeteria and hear the immigrants speak in several languages. From there, they will move on to the dorms, where they will be shown the expectations and dreams of the immigrants before they actually lived in Brazil. They will also watch videos with testimonies from former guests. Other modules will show immigration nowadays.

The Immigration Museum will have an auditorium, a cafe and a space for research on the topic. Visitors who want to use the library and the reference and research center will be accompanied by a museum employee. School groups will have a space to do activities and workshops connected to the theme of immigration.

History

The Immigrants’ Inn was opened to receive immigrants who came to Brazil to work. The first guests were Europeans who left their countries invited by the government of São Paulo after slavery was abolished. They came to replace slaves in the coffee crops. These employees came to Brazil by ship, with the tickets paid by the government of São Paulo. They disembarked in the port in Santos, went up the mountain by train and were hosted at the inn before being sent to work in the countryside.

 As the years passed by, the inn received immigrants of over 70 nationalities, among them Syrians and Lebanese. Brazilian people who came to São Paulo were also hosted there in the 1930s. “In the case of Arabs, they came from many places and focused on urban centers and commerce. Portraying Arab culture is a challenge because it is composed of many cultures and we are interested in bringing that to the public”, says the executive director.

After the closing of the Immigration Museum, its management has also changed. The institution belongs to the State Secretariat for Culture, but is run by the Social Cultural Organization for Friends of the Coffee Museum (Organização Social de Cultura Associação dos Amigos do Museu do Café, in Portuguese), which also runs the namesake museum in Santos, on São Paulo’s shore. The managers expect the Immigration Museum to have 500,000 visitors by the end of the year.

For the opening day, immigrant community theatre presentations and dance shows are scheduled, besides a concert by songwriter and singer Arnaldo Antunes. In June and July, the entrance is free. Besides the permanent exhibition, the Immigration Museum will host temporary exhibits.

Service
Immigration Museum
Rua Visconde de Parnaíba, 1.316, Mooca, São Paulo, SP
Reopening scheduled for May 31st
Visiting hours: from Tuesday to Saturday, from 9am to 5pm. On Sundays, from 10am to 5pm. Fortnightly, on Fridays, the institution will be open until 9pm.
For further information: www.museudaimigracao.org.br (in Portuguese)

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça

São Paulo – The government of the state of São Paulo has devised a strategy for offering leisure options other than football games to foreign and domestic visitors expected in the namesake capital São Paulo during the FIFA World Cup. This Wednesday (9th) saw the launch of a travel guide listing attractions available in the capital and the rest of the state. São Paulo is expecting 1.2 million visitors during the Cup, 300,000 of which will be foreigners.

“Our job is to showcase what our state has to offer,” says Carolina Fontes, the events manager of Comitê Paulista 2014 (the 2014 São Paulo State Committee), an organization linked to the state government in charge of handling World Cup-related affairs. Past experiences have shown that World Cup tourists want to do other things as well, hence the guide, according to the events manager.

Another important piece of information on crafting the guide is the fact that World Cup tourists don’t travel farther than 300 kilometres or longer than 3 days, because they take their trips in between games. The guide has 236 pages and features 55 routes in 49 municipalities, with options lasting one, two or three days. It is divided into four sections – beach and sun, culture and leisure, food and beverage, adventure and nature – and there are versions available in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

The guide will be distributed to travel agencies and organizations, airlines, consulates, football federations in World Cup participating countries, city halls, and the press. It features information on destinations, but not complete travel packages. According to Fontes, agencies will be allowed to based their packages around it, and tourists will be able to refer to the guide with no need for a travel agency, if they choose to travel by themselves. The information is expected to reach foreigners via the press, agencies and consulates as well.

Fontes believes the most successful routes among foreigners will be beach and sun and adventure and nature. “The profile of the World Cup crowd, mostly young men, they will be seeking leisure,” says the manager. The majority of foreigners travelling to Brazil will be actual national teams’ members. There are fans who will travel alongside their national teams. Algeria is the sole Arab country playing the 2014 World Cup. The Algerian team will stay in Sorocaba, in the state of São Paulo.

The guide is fairly didactical and comprehensive. It includes information on the state and the services available, such as airports, roads, how to make telephone calls, a section with information on the World Cup in São Paulo, profiles of football players born in the state, and then the routes. One-day tour suggestions include a visit to Santos; two-day tours include gastronomical tours in Campos do Jordão and Santo Antônio do Pinhal; the three-day options include trips to the waterfalls and beaches of Ilhabela and São Sebastião.

The city of São Paulo is hosting six World Cup matches. The first one is the opening match, on June 12th, between Brazil and Croatia. The second match is due on June 19th, Uruguay vs. England, the third one is on June 23rd, Netherlands vs. Chile, and the fourth one will be played on June 26th, Belgium vs. South Korea. The last two matches will be played on July 1st and 9th, the former being a part of the round of sixteen, and the latter a part of the semi-finals. The teams playing these matches will depend on the results of prior matches.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – This Wednesday (9th), the ambassador Bernardo de Azevedo Brito has stated that Brazilian enterprises must seek out business deals in Iraq. “Brazil cannot leave this market untapped,” said the diplomat during the launch of his book Iraque: dos primórdios à procura de um destino (Iraq: from the early days to the quest for a destiny) at the offices of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, in São Paulo. He served as Brazilian ambassador in the Arab country from 2006 to 2011.

According to Brito, the book is mostly geared towards scholars and businessmen who are interested in learning about the Iraqi political and economic scenario. He believes the news on Iraq as shown in Brazil convey a “deformed image.” “And that discourages people from going to Iraq,” he said.

The ambassador noted that the violence notwithstanding, Iraq is a country “that grows at 8% to 9% a year” and does “invests massively.” “It is an extremely important economy with a great outlook in the Middle East,” he said.

He mentioned the importance of the Arab Brazilian Chamber’s work in promoting bilateral trade. “During my term in office, the Arab Brazilian Chamber, thanks to its [CEO] Michel [Alaby], always responded to the embassy’s pleas,” he said. “I hope the organization insists on its pioneering actions, and on breaking into promising new markets in the Middle East,” he added.

Alaby, in turn, described the diplomat as a “conqueror of the Iraqi market” and one of the people who have “helped tailor Brazilian foreign policy for the Levant region and neighbouring countries.” Prior to serving at the embassy in Iraq, Brito was head of the Brazilian representation in Ramallah, West Bank.

Erbil Fair

The Arab Brazilian Chamber CEO seized the occasion to discuss Brazilian participation in the Erbil International Fair, due in in Northern Iraq from September 22nd to 25th. The Chamber organizes the Brazilian stand at the fair alongside the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brazil) and the Brazilian embassy in Baghdad, currently headed by ambassador Anuar Nahes.

“The last two times I was at the fair, local companies were bent on buying directly from Brazil,” he said, adding that Brazilian products arrive at the Iraqi market via intermediaries in the neighbouring countries Turkey and Iran. “Erbil is the gateway into Northern Iraq, and a hub for international companies,” he said. Registrations for the fair are open.

The event at the Arab Brazilian Chamber was mostly attended by delegates from member companies. Many of the attendees showed interest in exhibiting at the fair.

Some of these enterprises have taken part in past editions of the fair and operate on the Iraqi market. A case in point is Fanem, a medical and hospital equipment manufacturing company. The company was experiencing difficulties bidding in tenders in Iraq as a result of a legal caveat that favours manufacturers from United States, Europe, and Japan. With backing from the Brazilian embassy in Baghdad and the Arab Brazilian Chamber, however, the issue is being reviewed, and a change may take place soon.

One pending issue between Brazil and Iraq is an embargo on Brazilian beef. Like Saudi Arabia, Iraq banned imports following eh Brazilian government’s announcement, in December 2012, that an animal in the state of Paraná, which died in 2010, was a bearer of the causative agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, aka mad cow disease, but did not develop the condition. Last year, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) confirmed that Brazil’s “negligible risk” status for the disease has been maintained.

“The embargo on beef remains in place, but we will try to sort it out,” said Alaby. “The leader in this battle is the Abiec,” he added, referring to the Association of Brazilian Beef Exporters, represented at the event by ambassador Brito.

The official launch of the diplomat’s book will be held on Thursday (10th), at 7:00 pm, at Fundação Badesc, in central Florianópolis, the capital of the state of Santa Catarina, where he lives.

Service

Iraque: dos primórdios à procura de um destino
Bernardo de Azevedo Brito
Publisher: Editora UFSC
376 pages
Price: R$ 58.00 (US$ 26 at current exchange rates)
Where to buy: www.editora.ufsc.br

Launch: Thursday, 04/10, 7:00 pm
Place: Fundação Badesc, Rua Visconde de Ouro Preto, 216, Centro, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina
Tel.: (+ 55 48) 3224-8846
Website: http://fundacaoculturalbadesc.com/

Information on the Erbil International Fair
Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce
Tel.: (+55 11) 3283-4066
Email: members@ccab.org.br
Website: www.ccab.org.br

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – The countries in the Middle East and North Africa should grow less than expected in 2014 and 2015, and so should the world economy. The same holds true of developing countries such as Brazil and South Africa, but not of advanced economies. So says the latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) released this Tuesday (8th) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Fund believes the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be up 3.6% this year and 3.9% in 2015; both rates are down 0.1% from the WEO revision issued in January. The GDP of Middle East and North Africa countries should be up 3.2% on average this year (down 0.1% from January) and 4.5% in 2015. The prior forecast for 2015 was 4.8%.

In a statement released alongside the WEO, IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said the beginning of the world economic recovery in October last year is not only “strong,” but also “broader.” Still, old risks and new challenges continue to threaten the world’s recovery from the 2008 crisis. The hazards listed by the IMF include high rates of indebtedness, high unemployment and concerns over emerging markets. New challenges include the risk of deflation in advanced economies and geopolitical tensions.

The document notes that advanced economies such as the United States, Japan, China and the Eurozone are driving global growth, but the challenge for emerging countries lies in growing despite domestic adjustments and scarcer credit.

“Many (emerging) economies need a new round of structural reforms that include investment in infrastructure, removal of barriers to entry in product and services markets, and in China, rebalancing growth away from investment toward consumption,” said Blanchard.

Arab growth

As per the report, oil output in Arab countries has declined, partly due to political instability in Libya, low growth in private investment and higher government spending stemming from conflicts and political transitions. Nevertheless, Arab economies are expected to grow this year, driven by higher exports and investment.

Concerning investment in the region, the WEO cites Qatar’s investment plan for hosting the 2022 World Cup, and the United Arab Emirates’ for hosting the 2020 World Expo, in Dubai. Still, the WEO posits that Arab countries, especially non-oil exporting ones, are plagued by high unemployment, high indebtedness and low competitiveness. The WEO’s calculations include the economies of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are located in the Middle East but are not Arab countries.

The IMF forecasts growth of 4.1% in 2014 and 4.2% in 2015 for Saudi Arabia; 4.3% in 2014 and 4.1% in 2015 for Algeria; 4.4% and 4.2% for the United Arab Emirates; 5.9% and 7.1% for Qatar; 2.6% and 3% for Kuwait; 5.9% and 6.7% for Iraq; 2.3% and 4.1% for Egypt; 3.9% and 4.9% for Morocco; 3% and 4.5% for Tunisia; 2.7% and 4.6% for Sudan; 1% and 2.5% for Lebanon; and 3.5% and 4% for Jordan.

Slower growth in Brazil

The WEO has revised down its Brazilian economic growth forecast. The document names low private investment, low competitiveness and restricted domestic supplies as the reasons for 1.8% growth this year and 2.7% in 2015. The prior forecast was 2.3% in 2014 and 2.9% in 2015. The growth expectancy for Brazil is lower than the global rate and the estimate for emerging countries, which is 4.9% this year and 5.3% in 2015. The WEO forecast for China has been maintained at 7.5% this year and 7.3% in 2015.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum