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Morsi is hoping to convince Rousseff and Brazilian business leaders to invest in Egypt’s economy
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is expected to arrive in the Brazilian capital Brasilia Tuesday for a two-day visit during which he will meet with political and business sector leaders.
Brazil marks the last of his BRICS visits; in the past four months he has visited Russia, India, China and South Africa in hopes of boosting trade ties that could uplift Egypt’s beleaguered economy.
Morsi will meet with his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff as well as president of the Brazilian Senate, Renan Calheiros, to foster trade and investment cooperation between the countries.
Abdel-Rahman Hussein, an Egyptian journalist and political analyst, believes that the Brazil visit is Morsi’s latest attempt in a series of so far unfruitful attempts to secure investments from the BRICS countries.
During his visit to Russia last month, Morsi failed to reach agreement on a $2 billion loan from Moscow.
“He’s already been to the other BRICS countries and has very little to show for it. It hasn’t been specified in what areas Morsi is hoping to tie Brazil in but it’s clear he hopes to boost the $300 million Egypt exports to Brazil,” Hussein said.
According to official statistics, Egypt imports about $2.7 billion in goods and wares from Brazil while only exporting $300 million to the Latin American economic giant.
An Egyptian trade delegation compromising more than 20 companies accompanying Morsi is hoping to turn that around by promoting Egyptian goods in Brazilian markets. The trade delegation will also try to boost Brazilian investment in Egypt’s economy.
“With the IMF loan still on hold, and [Persian] Gulf countries – with the exception of Qatar – not so forthcoming in investing in Egypt, Morsi had hoped BRICS, and now Brazil, could offer an alternative,” Hussein told The BRICS Post.
When he meets with business community leaders in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, Morsi will be looking at ways to apply Brazil’s economic success story to Egypt.
Marcelo de Ávila, a senior economist at the National Confederation of Industry in Brazil, thinks Egypt could learn a lot from Brazilian social programmes which have lifted millions out of poverty.
De Avila told The Brics Post: “Social programmes in Brazil have became a strong flag and have been emulated by several developing countries.”
The BRICS Post
