Dubai – Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) president Osmar Chohfi and secretary-general Tamer Mansour had appointments with Dubai’s entities on Monday (25). In the morning, they met Dubai Industries and Exports CEO Saed Alawadi, Dubai Investment Development Agency (FDI) senior executive Humaid Al Nuaimi and Dubai Exports exporter services director Abdelrahman Al Hosani. These are both government agencies in the emirate that focus on exports and investments.
Alawadi said it’s always good to boost bilateral trade between the countries and stressed how relations with ABCC made the presence of Brazil in Dubai and vice versa grow. “I recall that a few years back, there were no Brazilian company in Dubai,” he said.
Chohfi expects a closer cooperation and more investments from the emirate in Brazil. “We have an extensive privatization program in the infrastructure sector, with roads and airports, and there are many fruitful investment opportunities for the United Arab Emirates in mines and energy, agriculture, and tourism industry,” he said. The agriculture sector is very important for our food security,” Alawadi pointed out, saying that investments in agricultural technology are on the agenda of the emirate. The CEO of Dubai Industries and Exports added that when Brazilian businesspeople bring their products to Dubai, the potential market is not limited to the UAE but extends across the entire region to include Africa and Asia.
“That’s why we opened our first international office here,” Chohfi said. He mentioned the blockchain services and ABCC Lab, a startup program that the entity has developed, as examples of the ABCC’s concern for modernization and digitization of its processes.
Alawadi said he plans on resuming his annual visits to Brazil and Latin America to help and guide businesspeople interested in exporting and bring their business to the Arab country. Tamer Mansour invited the attendees to take part in the Halal Forum to take place in December in São Paulo as well as the Economic Forum Brazil-Arab Countries to take place next July on the day the entity turns 70. We want to boost the business volume of Brazil in the Dubai market in food and cosmetics industries,” he said. “We must increase the share of the pie,” Alawadi said.
The afternoon’s meeting was with DP World, attended by COO Mahmood Al Bastaki as well as Abdulrahman Bin Haider, head of loyalty program World Logistics Passport (WLP), and Thierry Vantomme, manager of business development for the Americas. DP World is an Emirati multinational logistics company based in Dubai that specializes in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services and free trade zones. It has a terminal in Port of Santos, Brazil.
The meetings were attended by Zilda Rosa, export services specialist of Dubai Industries and Exports for Latin America; Fernanda Baltazar, manager of governmental relations of ABCC; Rafael Solimeo, head of the ABCC international office in Dubai; and Noury Dweidary, international business executive.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
