Dr Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, has concluded a visit to Brazil during which he met trade, agriculture and tourism ministers as the two nations pursue stronger economic ties and explore investment opportunities in priority sectors. With non-oil bilateral trade reaching $4.3 billion in 2022, a growth of 32 percent on 2021, Brazil is currently the UAE’s biggest trading partner in Latin America, and second only to the United States in the whole of the Americas.

In Rio de Janiero, Dr Thani, accompanied by Saleh Ahmad Salem Alzaraim Alsuwaidi, UAE Ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil, attended the launch of President Lula’s da Silva’s PAC, or Growth Acceleration Program. The $347.5 billion national investment initiative will leverage public-private partnerships to support energy, logistics and urban infrastructure projects – and, importantly, restate the nation’s commitment to its environmental responsibilities. The wide-reaching program not only underlines the scope of the nation’s economic ambitions but presents a number of significant opportunities for UAE investors; the UAE already has in excess of $5 billion committed to the country, predominantly focused on the sectors outlined in the PAC initiative.

Dr Thani’s participation in the event follows the state visit by President da Silva to Abu Dhabi in April, when he was received by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and discussed collaboration in technology, science and innovation, and the advancement of their respective sustainable development goals.

In the nation’s capital Brasilia, Dr Thani then held a series of meetings with government ministers and senior officials. They included in-depth talks with Foreign Commerce Secretary Tatiana Prazeres, in which they reviewed bilateral trade volumes and explored ways to strengthen supply chains, and discussions with Minister of Tourism Celso Sabino on FDI opportunities in the sector and strategies for increasing visitor flows in both directions.

His Excellency also met Carlos Fávaro, Minister of Agriculture, reciprocating his visit to Dubai earlier in the month, and Suemi Mori, Deputy Chief of International Relations at the National Confederation of Agriculture, and Felipe Luis, its Commercial Intelligence Coordinator. The UAE is one of the principal destinations in the MENA region for Brazil’s agricultural exports, in particular sugar, poultry, beef and maize, and the talks centered on development of value chains and sustainable production systems.

Dr Thani said: “Brazil is an increasingly important trade partner for the UAE, with 2022 experiencing robust growth in bilateral trade volumes. We also share an ambitious, pro-growth economic vision, one predicated on trade, inward investment and innovation, and believe we can support each other’s long-term, sustainable prosperity through deeper economic ties. Importantly, Brazil is one of the new centers of growth, one that represents the gravitational shifts in the economic landscape from the nations of the G7 towards new hubs of opportunity in the global south. The UAE is keen to build mutually beneficial partnerships with such economies and deliver dynamic new markets for our private sector.”