The federal government has made public some assets that would be part of the privatization policy it has adopted. These assets have been included as projects in the portfolio of the Investment Partnership Program. 

For example, the government is willing to lease one port terminal in the city of Aratu in the state of Bahia in the northeastern region, and two port terminals in the city of Santos in the state of Sao Paulo in the southeastern region. 

The utilization of the assets by the private sector would also include national parks like Lencois Maranhenses in the state of Maranhao, and Jericacoara in the state of Ceara, both in the northeastern region, as well Iguacu in the state of Parana in the southern region. 

The privatization would also encompass companies like Telebrás (telecommunications), Correios (the governmental mailing company) and the Port of Santos. The portion of the long national highway — BR 101 — in the state of Santa Catarina is also intended to be managed by the private sector. 

It is worth mentioning that all those assets are at diff erent levels as to their privatization. There are cases in which a study for the modeling of the privatization process will still have to be carried out — this refers, for example, to Telebras, Correios and the Port of Santos. 

In any event, foreign investors should pay att ention to this privatization process, so that they may identify projects which may be of interest to them. 

In the particular case of countries where Islamic fi nance is already a reality, some sort of Islamic fi nance structure could be organized in the country of origin of the potential investor like Musharakah. 

On the trade relationship between Brazil and the MENA region, the Brazilian minister of agriculture is planning to visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait and the UAE, but the agenda is not fi nalized yet. The minister wishes to off er the export of items that are currently not under the spotlight when it comes to exports to the MENA region like fruits and milkderived products. 

One item that Brazilian farmers could start producing is hay, which was one of the topics of a meeting that the minister recently had with the UAE’s representatives. 

The inclusion of other export items is na important path in the improvement of the trade relationship between Brazil and the MENA Region. As is well known, maybe the most important export item to the MENA region is Halal chicken.

Este artigo foi publicado no Islamic Finance News, no dia 4 de setembro de 2019.

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