São Paulo – The largest civil construction sector fair in the Middle East, the Big 5 Show, is scheduled to take place from November 23rd to 26th in Dubai, in the Emirates. Due to the importance of the event, which receives around 58,000 buyers, the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce is already trading space in the stand it should have at the event, with the support of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
In this edition, 27 companies from Brazil should exhibit their products at the Arab Brazilian Chamber stand. "We already have almost 10 companies interested and have not even started contacting the companies that participated in the fair last year," said the marketing assistant at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Karina Cassapula.
The Big 5 is considered the most expressive event for builders, specialists, architects, engineers and buyers, receiving over 2,500 companies from 53 countries. "It is a unique opportunity to negotiate directly with Arab buyers in the sector," said Karina.
"The fair is the greatest success in the Emirates, as it brings together the main exporters in the world and the main local importers, producers and distributors," pointed out the foreign trade coordinator at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Francisca Barros.
According to information disclosed on the fair site, other Arab countries like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, which also participate in the Big 5, present great demand for construction of houses and infrastructure works due to the high population growth.
According to figures compiled by the Market Development Department at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, the value of civil construction projects in the countries of the GCC (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the Emirates, Kuwait and Oman) for 2009 is US$ 1.7 trillion. In the United Arab Emirates alone investment should reach US$ 549.86 million. The source of the figures is Meed Projects. According to the study, this total involves enterprises in civil construction, infrastructure and industrial projects, especially in the oil, gas and energy sectors.
Still according to the study, the building sector is among those in which the promising reality of the Arab countries becomes most apparent. Revenues from the oil sector are the main source of investment in construction in these nations. Other factors also contributed to the growth and development of the Arab market, like government investment in infrastructure, the growth of tourism and the opening of the economies to foreign investment.
In the United Arab Emirates alone, there is a great variety of real estate projects, in leisure and tourism, trade and infrastructure, stimulating great development of the building sector in the country. The sector of port and airport services has been receiving great public and private investment, and it is among those that receive the most attention of foreign investors and agents.
From January to April 2009, Brazilian exports of building material to the Gulf countries totalled US$ 5.5 million. The most shipped products were stone, gypsum, cement, ceramics and glass.
"There are expectations for the GDP of the Emirates to resume its growth, and that should lead many works that were stopped due to the crisis to be resumed," said the Market Development manager at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Rodrigo Solano. The perspectives of the Economist Intelligent Unit are for growth of 4.2% in the country’s GDP in 2010.
How to participate
Companies interested in participating should fill out the form at link www.ccab.org.br/sistema. Each company will have a 9 m² decorated stand with bilingual receptionists and the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber’s technical staff.
Further information:
Arab Brazilian Chamber – Marketing Department
Telephones: (+55 11) 3147-4072/71/73/92
E-mail: marketing@ccab.org.br or karina@ccab.org.br
Information on the fair: http://www.big5-brasil.com.br/
*Translated by Mark Ament
