Brazil envoy underscores strong ties with Kingdom

Brazilian Ambassador Flavio Marega underscored Monday that Brazil and Saudi Arabia are riding the crest of excellent bilateral ties as his country prepares for its national day celebration next week.
“Brazil and Saudi Arabia have always been bound with excellent bilateral ties which have kept on growing from strength to strength over the years,” the Brazilian envoy told Arab News in an interview.
Nov. 15 is also called Republic Day because Brazil was declared a republic on Nov. 15, 1889. It commemorates the end of empire in Brazil.
Marega cited the close collaboration between his country and Saudi Arabia, with Brazilian officials making regular visits to Saudi Arabia and vice versa.
He said that a Brazilian delegation was planning to come to Saudi Arabia for the second joint commission next year. He added that last year, the Brazilian minister of agriculture came to the Kingdom to sign documents involving trade.
“A nine-member Shoura delegation from Saudi Arabia also visited Brazil in March,” Marega said. 
The Brazilian envoy noted that Brazil and Saudi Arabia have robust bilateral trade ties, with the volume between them amounting to $6 billion, with each one having a $3 billion share.
“Trade is one of the important areas in which we collaborate and the volume between the two countries is the biggest in the Middle East and North Africa region,” he said.
Last year, the volume was the same, although the value dropped to $4.6 billion, the Brazilian envoy said, because the prices of commodities dropped.
“We import a lot of oil from the Kingdom while we export soya beans, coffee, corn, industrial goods, among others, in addition to airplanes,” Marega said.
Asked why Brazil is considered the biggest player in the region among the Latin American countries, he said that it’s because it’s the world’s seventh largest economy. “Four years ago we almost overtook the United Kingdom but we had the devaluation. We dropped to 7th place when our GDP was calculated in dollar terms,” he said.

Source: Arab News