Brasília – The number of asylum applicants in Brazil in 2013 more than doubled from 2012. Last year, 5,256 people applied. In 2012, slightly over 2,000 people applied, as per figures released this Wednesday (14th) in the report Asylum in Brazil: a Statistical Review (2010-2013), issued by the National Committee for Refugees (Conare) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Unhcr). Over the last four years, the number of applications increased by 800%.

Year-to-date through May, 1938 applications were made and 684 were accepted. The Unhcr estimates that applications may amount to 12,000 by the end of 2014.

The Conare chairman Paulo Abrão said the increase is mostly due to the worsening of international conflicts and to migratory flows toward countries regarded as “lands of opportunity” – especially on the South-South axis, which currently accounts for 40% of global migratory flows.

“Brazil boasts outstanding humanitarian practices, a tradition of observance of human right, and the Unhcr has acknowledged this widely,” said the UN agency’s representative in Brazil, Andrés Ramirez.

According to him, asylum applications are on an upward trend. “The trend has been clear since 2010, it did not begin last year. It is an exponential increase.”

There are 5,208 refugees in Brazil today. They are from 80 different nationalities, 90% are aged 18 to 30 and 66% are men.

Most refugees in the country are from Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia and Pakistan. The Brazilian states that received the most applications are São Paulo (23%), Paraná (20.7%) and the Federal District (14%).

Most of the asylum applicants last year were from Bangladesh, Senegal, Lebanon, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the Unhcr. The rate of applications accepted was 45%, the highest of the last few years. All applications from Syrians were accepted, according to the Unhcr.

According to the report, there is a tendency for change in the next few years – towards increased diversity of nationalities, due to Brazil’s growing openness and to global humanitarian crises.
Brazilian law provides that asylum may be granted to people experiencing persecution due to political reasons, race, religion, or for being a part certain social groups (like countries with homophobic policies, for instance) or else due to serious, widespread human rights violations.

According to the report, the number of asylum requests approved in Brazil increased from 2010 to 2013 as a consequence of specific laws, and of Brazil’s becoming established as the leading donor of funds to the Unhcr among emerging countries: over R$ 11 million (US$ 4.9 million) were donation in these four years.

A resolution from the Conare, issued last Tuesday (13th) on the Federal Official Gazette, sets forth new rules for reducing asylum-related paperwork. The new measures enter into effect this Wednesday. The new rules are expected to enable swifter, more efficient proceedings.

Thus far, asylum applicants were required to undergo four stages, including interviews and filling in Federal Police forms, plus interviews with social and human rights organizations such as Cáritas. This process has been made simpler, a single form has been created, and the proof of asylum application is now issued upon the first contact with the applicant, following which the foreigner attains legal status in the country.

Formerly, the application form had to be renewed after 180 days; from now on, it will remain valid for a year.

*With information from the ANBA Newsroom. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – The Omani delegation that held the Brazil-Oman Economic Forum last Monday (12th) in São Paulo paid a visit to the offices of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce late this Tuesday afternoon (13th), and was welcomed by the organization’s president Marcelo Sallum and CEO Michel Alaby.

“The Sultanate of Oman is very well represented in Brazil, first by the ambassador [Khalid Al Jaradi], who is doing a magnificent job, and second by the Arab Chamber, which has carried out a strong commercial promotion work [for the country],” said Sallum.

The delegation comprises representatives from government agencies and state-owned companies and has travelled to Brazil looking to promote business opportunities in the sultanate. In addition to the forum, the Omanis attended separate meetings with Brazilian executives, paid a visit to the São Paulo Investment and Competitiveness Promotion Agency (Investe São Paulo) and will go the Port of Santos on Wednesday (14th).

“Our visit has been a huge success,” said the head of the delegation, Yahya Said Abdullah Al Jabri, chairman of the Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority. He highlighted the participation of the Brazilian vice president Michel Temer in the forum, the meetings with Brazilian executives and the visit to Investe São Paulo, where they learned about investment opportunities in the state.

Alaby gave a presentation on economic relations between Brazil and Oman, and delegation members inquired which sectors the Arab Chamber believes hold the most promise for bilateral business.

Sallum cited infrastructure. “We took delegates from Brazilian infrastructure companies along with us, and they told me they were interested in following up with the visit,” he said, referring to the trip Michel Temer took to the sultanate in 2013, alongside businessmen. He also envisions partnership possibilities in ports. The Omani delegation includes executives from the Duqm, Sohar and Salalah ports.

Alaby added that infrastructure in Brazil yields “good profitability,” as do retail and the hotel industry. In his opinion, however, the best opportunities for Arabs, especially those from the Gulf, lie in agribusiness. “And that is also due to [the issue of] food security,” he asserted.

Delegation members also requested information about heavy industry companies that may be interested in doing business with Oman, and about fish farming experiences in Brazil. Fishing is an important activity in the sultanate, due to the length of its coastline and its maritime tradition.

Jabri said a Brazil-Oman Business Council should be established swiftly to conduct an in-depth evaluation of the outlook for mutual investment, and to foster bilateral trade. The council’s establishment has been entrusted to the Arab Chamber and the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also suggested that more trade missions be carried out.

Ambassador Jaradi stated that the Arab Chamber is the embassy’s “number one” partner in Brazil, and thanked Sallum, Alaby and the employees who gave assistance through the forum and during the delegation’s visit. “I am certain that we will see the concrete results of this forum,” he said.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

São Paulo – The Sultanate of Oman is optimistic about the possibility of attracting more Brazilian investment, after the success of the project of the mining company Vale at the Port of Sohar and the purchase offer recently made by BRF for 40% of its distributor in the country, Al Khan Foods. This Monday (12nd), representatives from Omani agencies and companies presented business opportunities in the Brazil-Oman Economic Forum, held today at the Grand Hyatt hotel, in São Paulo.

“I think [this event] is precisely the outcome of the first trip of a [Brazilian] authority to the Sultanate of Oman, when I was there last year. It has led to this trade and industry forum, where Omani and Brazilian representatives have met to learn how to invest in Oman, and how Omani businessmen can invest here in Brazil”, said Brazilian vice president, Michel Temer, who took part in the conference.

According to the Omani ambassador in Brasília, Khalid Al Jaradi, the government of his country has a long-term strategy to diversify the economy, since the oil and gas industry accounts for 50% of activity. The areas the Omanis plan on developing include the food industry. They believe they can make Brazilian companies interested in carrying out something similar to what Vale did in the sultanate, in the iron ore business.

The mining company has a pelletizing plant, a seaport and a distribution centre in Oman’s Sohar port area. The place is considered strategic by the company to answer to the Middle Eastern and Indian markets, and there was an investment of US$ 2 billion there. “It is a very favourable environment to foreign investment,” said the External Affairs head of Vale, Marcio Senne.

Interested in the potential presented by the Brazilian grain exports, the director of Port of Rotterdam International (PoRint), which runs the Sohar Port and Freezone, said there are plans of setting up a food distribution hub at the facility. The representative of PoRint in São Paulo, Peter Lugthart, said they are trying to attract more companies from Brazil, besides Vale. “In our opinion, there is space to set up a grain terminal”, he said.

Other activities Oman wishes to develop are steelworks, fishing and aquaculture, agriculture, information and communication technologies, chemistry and petrochemistry, tourism, besides expanding its infrastructure.

“The policy of attracting investments to Oman is bearing great results”, said the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce’s president, Marcelo Sallum. “It is a wonderful country, tourism-wise”, added the CEO of the organization, MIchel Alaby. Both visited the Gulf nation alongside Temer, in 2013. The Arab Brazilian Chamber helped the Omani embassy hold the forum this Monday.

These country believes these areas can offer “competitive advantages”, either in the way of raw material and services availability or for its geographic location, halfway to large consumer markets.

“Our goal is to build partnerships with Brazilian companies,” said the chairman of the Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority and head of the Omani delegation, Yahya Said Abdullah Al Jabri. “We have reasons to hold similar activities (the forum) in the future,” he said. Approximately 160 people were in attendance.

Presentations were given on the ports and free zones of Duqm, Sohar and Salalah. Apart from their infrastructure and location, these facilities offer tax exemption, among other advantages. In Duqm, for instance, the grace period for taxes is 30 years.

Two-way street

Temer stated that Brazil is also interested in being targeted by investment from Oman, and said his country should see an infrastructure sector investment of US$ 150 billion in the next five years. “Bring your companies to invest and to make money,” he said.

One of the Omani companies at the forum invests overseas. The Oman Oil Company is a sort of sovereign fund from the Arab country that operates in energy and related activities. In South America, the company has business interests in Chile. “Brazil is one of the places we look to. If we find anything that fits our portfolio, we will look into it,” said the vice president for Emerging Business vice-president, Hilal Al Kharusi.

To Marcelo Sallum, Temer’s visit to the sultanate in 2013 “gave a positive signal of the [Brazilian government’s] interest in establishing closer ties” with Oman. “And the fact that the vice president has attended this forum was important, since it gave credibility, not to mention that we had the opportunity to see new projects,” he said. The Duqm project, for instance, is new.

Because developing its infrastructure is a priority for the Omani government, Sallum added that construction works in the Arab country could translate into “big opportunities for Brazilian companies.”

Double taxation

One obstacle to the development of closer ties with Oman, and to the internationalization of Brazilian enterprises in general, was discussed by senator Ricardo Ferraço (from the Espírito Santo chapter of party PMDB), chairman of the Senate’s External Relations and National Defence Commission. According to him, the Brazilian legislation regards the sultanate as a “location with more favourable taxation” and a “more favourable tax regime,” i.e. a fiscal haven, which prevents Brazil from negotiating an agreement for preventing double taxation in mutual investment.

“We must review this petty position, this Jurassic bureaucracy,” the senator criticized. He promised to “stress” the issue at the commission he presides, i.e., to place it on the agenda and discuss potential modifications.

Temer asserted that the topic “is being continuously examined by government.” “On several occasions, whenever I take these trips [abroad], I hear these pleas [for anti-double taxation agreements],” he said. “The government has not closed the doors on the matter, the government is examining it in proper fashion, so as not to cause problems for the Federal Revenue here in Brazil, and the Revenue in the other country at hand,” he added.

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça & Gabriel Pomerancblum