Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – The Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade Ministry, the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex) and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB) have scheduled the opening event of the Brazilian Week & Trade Exhibition for Monday, November 10, at 6:30pm, at hotel Unique in the city of São Paulo (Brazil). The Week will take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, between December 7 and 9.
The Week will be the largest Brazilian event ever organized in an Arab country, and will coincide with the tour president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will take of the region.
The development, industry and foreign trade minister, Luiz Fernando Furlan, the presidents of Apex, Juan Quirós, and of the CCAB, Paulo Sérgio Atallah, and the United Arab Emirates ambassador in Brazl, Saeed Hamad Al-Junaibi, will be present at the event.
Apart from the authorities, it is expected that the event should count on the presence of 250 businessmen from various industry sectors including: decoration, construction material and equipment, automotive, airplane, textile, shoe, software, hotel equipment, cosmetics and personal hygiene, tobacco, agricultural machinery and equipment, food, paper and cellulose, jewelry and precious gems, domestic appliances, pet products, toys, and medical, hospital and dentistry equipment. Eighty large Brazilian companies are expected to participate in the Week.
Potential
The president of the CCAB will address the guests about the Arab market, especially the Emirates. "In Brazil, little is known about the Emirates potential. Just for reference, the Emirates have a per capita income of US$ 19,000, and the country imported US$ 34 billion in products in 2002. Of this total only US$ 650,000 came from Brazil", said Atallah.
According to him, the Emirates offer a series of opportunities that have not yet been explored by Brazilian businessmen. As an example, Atallah mentioned Palm Island, a large construction project being developed through the reclaiming of land from the Arabian Gulf.
"The project will include 40 luxury hotels, 2,500 mansions and 2,400 apartments in an US$ 850 million investment, scheduled to finish in 2005. This total is for just one of the complexes (two are planned)", he stated.
The Emirates, especially Dubai, is the main commercial center in the region and, apart from the internal consumption, the country operates as a distribution center to various other countries in the region, as well as reexporting to Asia and Africa.
Objectives
Quirós, in turn, shall be talking about the Week itself, whose main objectives are to improve political, economic and trade relations between Brazil and the region, to show the political and economic scenery in Brazil internationally, to promote national culture, to show the commercial potential between the two nations, and to present investment opportunities in Brazil.
Due to these various objectives, the Brazilian Week will not only be a business event. It will show details of Brazilian culture, tourism, and gastronomy. The Brazilian government has therefore invited personalities from these areas to participate.
"This will be the first exclusively Brazilian event to attract large public and media attention", stated Paulo Atallah. The ceremony to launch the Week shall be followed by a cocktail.
The Emirates market, and especially Dubai, is avid for imported products. Businessmen and authorities that have recently visited the region generally say that the Arabs do not prefer a specific supplier, they want quality and price.
"Brazil has everything the country needs", said, in a recent interview to ANBA, the foreign affairs advisor of the state of Goias (in center-western Brazil), Elie Chidiac.
Contacts
Apex
Tel.: (0–61) 426-0202
www.apex.org.br
Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce
Tel.: (0–11) 3283-4066
www.ccab.org.br
