New Age | Brazil interested in export of meat, live cattle

Brazilian ambassador to Bangladesh Paulo Fernando Dias Feres said on Thursday that his country was interested to export meat and live cattle to Bangladesh.

‘Tariff is not a problem. Certification for export of meat and chickens is important. Exporters have well-equipped facilities for meat storage in Brazil…It’s also possible to send live cattle to Bangladesh although those would be requiring more space that we have in our country,’ the envoy said, while addressing a DCAB Talk, organised by the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh, at the National Press Club in the Dhaka city.

He, however, pointed out that Bangladesh authorities did not want to expose small farmers to a big producer. Moreover, there is a shortage of space in Bangladesh for large cattle, he added. 

He said that they were also interested to contribute to the poultry industry by providing raw materials for hotel chains initially with the overall trade between the countries being around $2.5 billion.

The ambassador said that the foreign minister of Brazil very recently visited Bangladesh and that was the first high-level visit in the 52 years of its relations with the South Asian nation. 

Referring to the Framework Agreement on Technical Cooperation as the key document signed between the two nations during the Brazilian foreign minister’s visit early this month, he said that they were now working in a more systemic manner so that the countries could trade better and were mutually benefited from each other.

Fernando said that Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina was expected to visit Brazil, popular for its football team in July, and the deals not signed during their foreign minister’s visit could be signed during her visit there.

Both the countries were also interested in military cooperation, he added.

He said that they were working to open a visa centre in Dhaka amid rising number of applications for Brazilian visas since there was a small Bangladeshi diaspora in Brazil.

He said that setting up a warehouse in Bangladesh would help to import cotton from Brazil.

Brazilian businesspeople were interested in exporting meat and live cattle to Bangladesh while Bangladesh could export more readymade garment items to the Latin American country, according to the diplomat. 

Responding to a question on Brazil’s position on the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, he, however, said that what China was doing in the region went against international laws.

Both China and the United States had their problems and they would be dealing with their own problems first without getting involved in any war against each other, he said.

‘What China is doing in the region goes against international law. We follow international law,’ said Fernando.

He said that Brazil was observing the situation in the region.

About the Rohingya crisis, he said that it was a regional crisis and the international community should help Bangladesh to host over a million displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar.

‘Repatriation is the only solution to the problem,’ he said.

DCAB president Nurul Islam Hasib moderated the event.