Ambassador eulogises Nigeria-Brazil bilateral trade at trade mission as both countries hold exhibition

Bilateral relations between Brazil and Nigeria received a boost at the Nigerian-Brazilian Trade Mission Awareness and Interactive Session titled ‘Hair Brazil and Beauty products which took place at Brazilian Embassy, Victoria Island with Consul General, Consulate General of Brazil, Amb. Francisco Carlos Soares Luz as the Chief host.

The event which was organised by Visions and Dreams Nigeria Limited brought together stakeholders on Cosmetics preparatory to an exhibition scheduled to take place in Sao Polo, Brazil between March 24 and 30. Brazil is the second world largest producer of Cosmetics.

At the event, stakeholders were linked with the major producers of cosmetics in Brazil which culminated into robust Interactive sessions.

Speaking at the event, Amb. Soares Luz remarked that aside promotion of cosmetic products and the impending exhibition in Brazil, Nigeria and Brazil had enjoyed a balance of trade and despite the pandemic, the two countries trade has grown by almost 30 per cent from 2019 till date, moving towards the level of what it used to be far back in 2008 though it could be admitted that it’s still far below the era of oil export to Brazil.

“Trade is very beneficial for the two countries and our trade is completely balanced.

“We sell $700 million, we buy $700 million from Nigeria and in this way, the two countries are benefitting
“In this kind of unique market like Cosmetics, Brazil is the second-largest market for Cosmetics and our small companies are opening branches in Africa, Angola, Mozambique and South Africa with the aim of penetrating the entire African market/

“The trade volume between Nigeria and Brazil until October was $156 billion and is far too surplus to Brazil’s by $2 million,” he said.

“Amb. Soares Luz disclosed the concentration of oil and fertilisers from Nigeria to Brazil and mostly sugar at about 60 per cent.

He also revealed purchases from Nigeria such as aircraft by AirPeace, Overland airways with about 180 buses bought from Brazil, adding that BRT buses being used in Lagos were also bought from Brazil making 90per cent of Brazil’s trade.

He also highlighted the intention of Brazil to diversify into other sectors with a view to building alliances between the producers in Brazil and importers in Nigeria who in future could become manufacturers like Brazil’s partners in Australia, France and the United States of America (USA).

The Ambassador also made known Brazil’s biggest initiative in Africa called “The Green Imperative” which is a mechanization line of credit of $1.2 billion in ten years, assuring that everything is being finalized by the Central Bank bordering on the approval of both Brazilian and Nigerian Senates while the only thing remaining was the signatory of the Central Bank to release the money so that farmers all over Nigeria can start to buy Brazilian machines.

He also remarked that the machines would be imported and assembled in Nigeria in two assembly plants that would necessitate employing a lot of Nigerians.

He noted that the money at the end of the day might be more than the projected $1.2 billion because of the volume of importation as Nigeria sees Brazil as its biggest partner in agriculture due to the common climate, soil and crops between the two countries.

“We are now among the three biggest producers in products such as soybeans, rice, maize and livestock and the biggest exporter of chicken and beef in the world, hoping that during the next session of the Brazilian-Nigerian high-level committee that will take place in Abuja at about March 22, 2022, to be presided over by the two countries’ Vice Presidents, there would be more information in this direction.

“We are replacing other imports from other countries with a lot of import of fertilizer from Nigeria as COVID-19 pandemic has improved the trade relations between Nigeria and Brazil with an increase in the number of tourists from Nigeria to Brazil,” he said.

The Ambassador hinged the importance of cultural exchange between the two countries on the existence of cultural link that predated the two nations independence which has culminated into the influence of Yoruba culture in Brazil which has also led to the Yoruba language being legalised and approved as one of the latter’s official languages in parts of Brazil’s Bahia state.

Chief Executive Officer, Visions and Dreams Nigeria Limited, Mac Alexander said he put the programme together so that Nigerians would start to understand that Brazil is full of potentials that they can tap things from.

“Brazil has a lot of things that our investors, businessmen that have foresight can pick from and bring to Nigeria to develop our country.

“Africans and our clothes are reigning in Brazil which makes the exchange of our cultures very important and our people going there would appreciate it. We would also bring Brazilians to Nigeria to also come and showcase their culture too.

“We are also going around the world as our company deals with entertainment, events and exchange of our cultures with other countries,” he said.

Executive Secretary, Nigerian-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Raymond Dibie said there was a need to resuscitate the kind of robust business relationship that had long existed between the two countries as Brazil has a lot of things Nigeria can benefit from and worthy of note is agriculture because the two countries have common weather condition that would invariably make agriculture to thrive.

Executive Director, Visions and Dreams, Okwudiri Ekeledo said his organisation was set up to bridge the gap between Nigeria and Brazil in the areas of trade, commerce and cultural exchange.

“Today, we are exhibiting things around beauty products we intend to bring in.

“When we talk of Brazil, an average Nigerian would only think of football without mentioning the areas of trade and cosmetics and yet, Brazil is one of the largest exporters of cosmetics in the world.

“Some people have been importing hair from China or other parts o the world in the name of Brazilian hair and this is the reason we are taking some of the major traders to Brazil to meet with major companies dealing in beauty products to participate in an exhibition where we are expecting over 2,000 companies with the privilege of Nigerians signing deals and buy franchise.

“The exhibition is between March 24 and 30, 2022 while the exhibition holds on 26th in Sao polo, Brazil. We are coming back on the 30th, he said.

He expressed satisfaction at the Nigerian-Brazilian Trade Mission Awareness and Interactive Session which forms part of his companies business to promote trade between Nigeria and other parts of the world.
Festivals Director, Shioma Igwe said the aim of the event was to promote the good business relationship between Nigeria and Brazil, adding that the government needs to support standardization of SME’s.

Promoter/Director, Nigerian-Brazilian Chambers of Commerce and Industries, Uzo Ebejuo said it was not only important to import but imperative to bring companies to Nigeria to come and establish with a view to creating jobs while governments both at the Federal and the state levels should create an enabling environment for investors to operate.