São Paulo – Ambassadors and chargés d’affaires from 18 Arab countries and the Arab League met last Thursday (9th) in Brasília with the Brazilian minister of Foreign Affairs, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, to discuss the furthering of diplomatic and trade ties between Brazil and the countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

The meeting was also attended by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ undersecretary general for Middle East politics, ambassador Paulo Cordeiro, and secretary general, Eduardo dos Santos, and by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce‘s CEO Michel Alaby. The meeting took place over luncheon at the official residency of the Egyptian ambassador to Brasília, Hossameldin Mohamed Ibrahim Zaki.

In their first meeting with a Brazilian foreign minister since Figueiredo took office, in August 2013, the diplomats discussed the creation of a Palestinian State, the reconstruction of Gaza following conflicts with Israel, the National Congress’ approval of free-trade agremeents with Arab countries, and the end of double taxation between said countries and Brazil.

According to the dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil and representative of Palestine in the country, Ibrahim Alzeben, the meeting was “very positive.” “The parties engaged in a very important interaction. The minister expounded on the importance of Arab immigration to Brazilian culture, the fact that Arab companies are very active in Brazil, and the Arab Chamber’s pivotal role in these relations. He pledged to visit the Arab countries in the near future,” said Alzeben.

Free trade

At the meeting, Alaby said a few free-trade agreements have been signed by the Mercosur and some Arab countries, but are pending approval from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate before entering into force. This holds true of Egypt, Palestine and Jordan. Alaby told minister Figueiredo that bilateral trade between Brazil and the Arab countries can benefit from further agreements, such as an anti-double taxation treaty (to prevent tax on revenue from being levied in both the source and target countries).

“We and the minister discussed the need to upgrade our trade, which necessarily entails trade agreements, double taxation prevention, greater Brazilian participation in Arab trade shows, and having more Arab enterprises operate in Brazil, so we may increase the exchange of experiences. This is important to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is not attached to any particular administration. Administrations change, but the philosophy that governs International Relations remains independent,” Alaby asserted.

Bilateral trade between Brazil and the Arab countries has increased since 2003, when then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva travelled to Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya and the United Arab Emirates. In 2013, Brazil exported US$ 14.03 billion worth of goods to the region and imported US$ 11.39 billion. Commodities make up the bulk of exports and imports. Brazil ships mostly foodstuffs to Arabs and the Arabs ship mostly oil, oil products and fertilizers to Brazil. In 2003, Brazilian exports to Arab countries amounted to a combined US$ 2.7 billion. In 2012, sales peaked at US$ 14.8 billion and then dropped to US$ 14.03 billion in the following year.

During the meeting, minister Figueiredo was invited to attend the foreign ministers meeting of the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA), set to take place on October 28th in Manama, Bahrain. The Brazilian foreign minister has not decided whether to send an official to the meeting.

According to Alzeben, at the meeting on Thursday, Figueiredo confirmed that Eduardo dos Santos will attend a summit in Cairo next Sunday (12th) to discuss projects for rebuilding the Gaza Strip area, which was shelled in July and August during confrontations between the Hamas group and Israel.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – The 38th São Paulo International Film Festival, set to begin on the 16th, will feature 330 productions from around the world until the end of this month. Arab countries are featured in the festival with seven own productions, co-productions or as the theme of films made in other countries. Cinephiles can watch prize-winning movies, a documentary on the Syrian conflict and even a Palestinian production about a boy who tends giraffes. This year’s edition of the festival is paying tribute to Spanish cinema, highlighting the work of Pedro Almodóvar.

According to festival director Renata de Almeida, this year’s edition has received 1,000-plus submissions. All submissions were viewed by a team of jurors. The Arab or Arab-themed films, says de Almeida, focus on myriad subjects. Some are about political conflicts, such as Our terrible country, in which two men travel through embattled Syrian cities and are ultimately forced to seek shelter in Turkey. Other movies focus on human conflicts instead, like those experienced by the six characters in the Egyptian-Emirati co-production The Mice Room.

Among the Arab-made films or those about the Arab culture and reality, the director recommends two pictures by the Kurdish filmmaker (from Iraq’s autonomous region Kurdistan) Hisham Zaman. Letter to the king tells the story of five refugees who travel to Oslo, the capital of Norway, each with a different purpose. The oldest of them wants to deliver a letter to the king. In Before snowfall, an eldest brother has the mission of reestablishing his family’s reputation after his sister flees her wedding. These were the director’s first two feature films and won prizes at Sweden’s Gothenburg Festival in 2013 and 2014.

A French-Palestinian co-production, Rani Massalha’s drama “Giraffada” is inspired by a true story and portrays a boy and his father’s struggles to find, in Israel, a companion for a giraffe from the West Bank’s Qalqilya Zoo following an airstrike.

Dancing Arabs, directed by Israel’s Eran Riklis, depicts the dilemmas of a young Palestinian Arab who falls in love with a Jewish girl. Another Israeli production, The green prince, is a documentary about the son of a member of radical group Hamas who served as an informant for the Israeli government for over ten years. “Many of the films depict conflicts, either political or personal. There are some good stories, because the conflicts are ultimately human,” says Almeida.

Tribute

This year, the festival is paying tribute to Spanish cinema, featuring Luis Buñuel’s first two productions, An Andalusian dog and The golden age, plus an exhibition of photographs taken by the director. The highlight of this year’s tribute to Spanish cinema will be Pedro Almodóvar. The festival will feature Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Talk to her and his latest film, The skin I live in. Almodóvar also designed the festival’s poster, at the organizers’ request.

This edition will also honour the director and producer of authorial films Marin Karmitz. The tribute will include Krzysztof Kieslowski’s The three colors trilogy and Ruy Guerra’s Ópera do Malandro, among other productions, including a documentary about Karmitz.

Celebrating the centennial of Charles Chaplin’s character the Tramp, the festival will screen The circus on November 1st. The movie will be shown in open air, outside the Ibirapuera Auditorium on Ibirapuera Park. The soundtrack will be played live by Fundação Theatro Municipal’s Orquestra Experimental de Repertório (Experimental Repertoire Orchestra). The screening will take place at 8 pm and admission is free.

The festival will also feature the New Directors Competition. Movies by directors who have made up to two feature films will be shown throughout the event. The most voted motion pictures will be viewed by a jury, which will award the Bandeira Paulista Trophy to the best ones.

Service
38th São Paulo International Film Festival
October 16th to 29th
Information and program: http://38.mostra.org/br/home/ (in Portuguese)

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – From this Saturday (11th) to the next 25th, the city of São Paulo will host the presentations of the multimedia show Card Games, by the Canadian director Robert Lepage. The show consists of two different plays which address issues such as history, politics, magic and the universe of card games with the Arab world running as an underlying theme. The presentations will take place at Sesc Santo Amaro.

“This project was born from a simple idea, with actors and technicians playing cards. Then, Lepage researched the origin of the games and found out they came from the East, from the Arab world. From there, he started to turn to this universe,” explains Emerson Pirola, assistant in charge of the theatre area at the management of Sesc’s Cultural Action Program.

The shows were designed according to the card suits. The first two parts, which will be staged in São Paulo, are Card Games: Spades and Card Games: Hearts.

Card Games: Spades explores the theme of war. The six-actor play juxtaposes two desert cities at the moment the United States invade Iraq.

On one side is the American city of Las Vegas, which the director portrays as a caricature of the Western World, and on the other the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, bombed by the then American president George W. Bush in the name of democracy. The characters, like the city that keeps on having fun in the midst of war, face their personal battles in hopes of solving their own contradictions.

In the second part, Card Games: Hearts, the plot links Algeria, France and Canada. The character Chaffik is a young Maghrebi taxi driver in Québec, in 2011, who delves into his genealogical past to untangle questionable events linked to the disappearance of his grandfather and the origins of his family.

Another character in the plot is Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, a renowned French magician, who is sent to Algeria by the French government, in 1856, to challenge the spiritual and magical powers of the marabouts (hermits considered to be saints by the inhabitants of the Northwestern region of Africa). Chaffik and Robert-Houdin are connected by a familial, political and artistic network.

Pirola explains that each suit represents a symbolism which is portrayed by the director in the plays. “Spades are linked to the military universe; Hearts represents the sacred, the magic; Clubs represents labour, the workers; and Diamonds the economic realm and trade.” The plays themed around Clubs and Diamonds are still in planning phases.

Lepage is known for producing shows which mix performing arts, such as theatre, dance and music, with digital arts, such as cinema, video art and multimedia. The lines in the shows are in French, English and Arabic and subtitled in Portuguese, and will be displayed in four screens scattered around the presentation space.

The plays staff, combined, is composed of 12 actors from several countries such as Germany, Spain, England, Switzerland, Australia and Canada. The performances take place in a 360-degree circular stage which is broken into multiple spaces.

Never seen before in Latin America, the two plays were staged in Germany, Spain, England, Switzerland, Australia and Canada.

Service

Card Games: Spades
On October 11th, 12nd, 14th and 15th (Saturday at 9pm, Sunday at 6pm, Tuesday and Wednesday, at 9pm).

Card Games: Hearts
On October 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th (from Wednesday to Saturday, at 8pm).

Tickets range from R$ 18 to R$ 60 (roughly US$ 7.54 to US$ 25.15) and can be purchased in the ticket offices at Sesc or online at www.sescsp.org.br. Sesc Santo Amaro is located at 505 Amador Bueno Street.

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça

São Paulo – Brazilian agribusiness exports declined in September and year-to-date in 2014. According to figures released last Wednesday (8th) by the Ministry of Agriculture, US$ 8.29 billion worth of agribusiness products were shipped abroad in September, down 7.4% from September last year. Year-to-date through September, sales amounted to US$ 75.9 billion, down 2.7% from the comparable period in 2013.

The Rural Economy professor at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Eugênio Stefanello, told ANBA that the main reasons for the lower export revenues and the trend of declining volumes are weak international demand and falling prices for the main commodities. Although the United States economy is recovering from the crisis, other countries which are major importers of Brazilian agribusiness products are growing at lower rates. Cases in point include the European Union, China and Japan.

“Commodities prices will be lower this year than in 2013 and will tend to remain flat in 2015, because a mild global recovery is expected. Prices may stay level or be lower, and as a consequence, we may see a scenario where exports will increase in volume decrease in value,” the economist said.

According to Chicago Stock Exchange figures cited by the economist, a bushel of maize (equivalent to 25.4 kilograms) sold for US$ 6.90 in 2012, US$ 5.63 in 2013, US$ 4.67 in the first half of this year and from US$ 3.20 to US$ 4.50 in September. The price of a bushel of soy (equivalent to 27.2 kilograms) dropped from US$ 14.63 in 2012 to US$ 14.14 in the first half of this year, and between US$ 11,00 and US$ 9.50 in September. According to Stefanello, crop failures are not expected in any the major commodities. He said the reason prices are dropping is precisely the fact that supply is rebounding.

Middle East

The Middle East countries are also buying less this year than they did in 2013. According to Agriculture Ministry figures, exports to the Middle East fetched US$ 5.2 billion from January to September 2014, down 12.2% from the comparable period in 2013. Regarding Brazil’s leading Arab destinations, sales are down 15.7% to Saudi Arabia and 8.6% to the United Arab Emirates. In turn, Egypt’s purchases from Brazil were up 5.9%.

To Stefanello, these countries are buying less because ongoing conflicts are forcing them to incur more unplanned expenses. He also remarked that the Russian embargo on products from the United States, European Union, Australia and Canada has caused these suppliers to seek new markets to sell to, including the Middle East, thus increasing competition for Brazilian products. Russia has banned foodstuffs imports from these countries in response to the embargos they have imposed on it due to the conflict underway in Ukraine.

Another cause for the decline in Brazilian exports to Saudi Arabia was the latter’s embargo on Brazilian beef. Saudi Arabia stopped buying the product following Brazil’s announcement, in late 2012, that a cow in the state of Paraná that borne the mad cow disease causative agent had died in 2010, even though it did not manifest the condition. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has upheld Brazil’s risk status for the disease as insignificant. The Ministry of Agriculture is in talks with Saudi authorities to end the embargo.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – The World Economic Outlook (WEO) report released this Tuesday (7th) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assesses that countries’ economies are still struggling to return to growth and that recovery after the 2008 is increasingly uneven. Some are growing fast while others are unable to grow at all.

The report also revises down its growth prospects for the world economy, the Middle East and North Africa and Brazil in 2014 and 2015. According to the Fund, some countries managed to grow more than others, but generally speaking, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth remains weak.

“Among advanced economies, growth is projected to pick up, but is slower in the euro area and Japan and generally faster in the United States and elsewhere. Among major emerging markets, growth is projected to remain high in emerging Asia, with a modest slowdown in China and a pickup in India, but to stay subdued in Brazil and Russia,” reads the WEO’s chapter on recent economic developments and their consequences for the next few years.

The report estimates that Middle East and North Africa countries, which include non-Arab nations such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, should grow by 2.7% this year and 3.9% in 2015. In July, the WEO had forecasted growth of 3.1% in 2014 and 4.8% in 2015.

The Fund also forecasts 3.8% growth this year and 4% in 2015 for Algeria; 3.9% and 2.9% for Bahrain; 5.5% and 5.5% for Djibouti; 2.2% and 3.5% for Egypt; -2.7% and 1.5% for Iraq; 3.5% and 4% for Jordan; 1.4% and 1.8% for Kuwait; 1.8% and 2.5% for Lebanon; -19.8% and 15% for Libya; 6.8% and 6.8% for Mauritania; 3.5% and 4.7% for Morocco; 3.4% and 3.4% for Oman; 6.5% and 7.5% for Qatar; 4.6% and 4.5% for Saudi Arabia; 3% and 3.7% for Sudan; 2.8% and 3.7% for Tunisia; 4.3% and 4.5% for the United Arab Emirates; 1.9% and 4.6% for Yemen; 3.9% and 3.9% for the Comoro Islands. The IMF did not release forecasts for Syria, Somalia and Palestine.

“Growth is expected to increase in 2015, assuming that security improves, allowing for a recovery in oil production, particularly in Libya. Economic activity in the oil importers is projected to improve only gradually as they continue to deal with difficult sociopolitical transitions, subdued confidence, and setbacks from regional conflicts,” the report reads.

Brazil and the world

GDP growth for Brazil is expected to be 0.3% this year and 1.4% in the next. The IMF’s prior forecast was 1.3% in 2014 and 2% in 2015.

The organization noted that in Brazil, investment is declining, consumption is moderate and the GDP contracted in Q1 and Q2 2014. The reason was low business and consumer confidence in the economy and financial conditions that do not stimulate economic growth. “These factors, along with weakness in competitiveness, are projected to keep growth subdued in much of 2014-2015,” says the IMF.

The organization has also revised down its global growth forecast. In July, global GDP was estimated to grow by 3.4% in 2014 and 4% in 2015. The new estimates are 3.3% and 3.8%.

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça

São Paulo – The public administrator and economist Ana Carla Fonseca, a professor at the postgraduate courses in Brazil’s Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and Argentina’s National University of Córdoba, is delivering a lecture on Creative Cities on the 14th this month at the offices of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, in São Paulo. In an interview granted by email to ANBA, she said “there is no single definition of the notion,” but that “in one sentence, a creative city is a city that constantly reinvents itself.”

These cities have three features: innovation, connections and culture. In Brazil, she says, public policies that fit the bill completely are hard to find; as examples she mentions cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, New York, Lisbon and Rosário, in Argentina. An Arab case in point is Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, where “a series of efforts reflect a structured underlying program for change.” Read below the interview and information about the lecture:

ANBA – What is the concept of creative cities?

Ana Carla Fonseca – There is no single definition of the notion of creative cities. In a bid to shed light on the different existing concepts and try to pin down their common features, in 2008, in collaboration with a colleague from the United States, I carried out the first attempt to systematize this issue at a global level. It was a volunteer study involving 18 professionals with conceptually solid approaches and practical experience in the subject of creative cities. We purposely invited colleagues from 13 different countries as diverse as Taiwan, Norway, South Africa and Colombia, from cities of various sizes, histories and socioeconomic profiles. The study became a free bilingual e-book (Creative Cities – Perspectives) and revealed that, in one sentence, a creative city is a city that constantly reinvents itself.

The concept is based on three general guidelines. The first is innovation. Innovation here entails myriad aspects, including new products, services, processes and views and their perceived value, problem-solving and the taking of advantage of existing opportunities – ranging from nanotechnology to social technologies, solid waste reuse and green technologies. The second guideline is connections – between the public and private spheres, between different areas of the city, between its history and its vision of future, between the city and its neighbouring cities or the rest of the world. And the final guideline is culture, in three dimensions: identity, soul and symbolism; economic impact; and a creativity-prone environment.

Could you name examples of policies that fit this concept?

By policies do you mean public policies? These are still hard to come by in a complete form in Brazil, unlike in cities such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, New York or even Lisbon and Rosário, where citizens are involved in the decision-making pocesses that concern their cities (as in the participative budget system in place in Lisbon’s schools and the social fine issued by the children in Rosário to drivers who park in no-parking areas), where the state takes on the role of a fosterer of innovation (such as in the bicycle culture project spearheaded by the Dutch Cycling Embassy, in Amsterdam, the creative entrepreneurship programs in Copenhagen and the set of actions focusing on public spaces and transportation in New York).

What initiatives can enterprises have in this respect?

There are myriad possibilities, such as real estate developers investing in healthy relationships with and in the surroundings of their properties, employing clear-cut strategies to value the territory and ecosystem in which their own employees work; or Sampa Criativa (Creative São Paulo), a collaborative platform we have developed at the behest of organizations Fecomércio-SP, Sesc and Senac, inspiring citizens to outline propositions for improving the city in many different fields (ranging from business to public spaces, from communication to social innovation), positioning themselves as agents of change. Hundreds of news stories were generated, some of which covered traditional businesses that reinvent themselves creatively, and over a six-month period 800-plus propositions were submitted, openly published and forwarded on a weekly basis to the City Hall and the City Council (www.criaticidades.com.br/sampacriativa).

Are you familiar with any examples in Arab countries? For instance, does Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, fit the bill?

Abu Dhabi is a regional highlight where a series of efforts reflect a structured underlying program for change. Projects include the Vision 2030 plan, the cultural district development (including five major iconic sets dedicated to local culture, in the so-called “Island of Happiness”), innovative actions targeting urban sustainability, and the attraction of newly-graduated talents from world-class universities.

Service:

Creative Cities – Lecture
Ana Carla Fonseca
October 14th, 7 pm at the Arab Chamber, Av. Paulista, 326, 17th floor, São Paulo, São Paulo
Admission is free, but limited to business executives and Arab Chamber members
Information and registration: (+55 11) 3147 4066 – tmachado@ccab.org.br

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum