Dubai – Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro visited the Dubai Airshow aerospace industry show this Sunday (14) in the Arab emirate. He attended an air presentation at the royal pavilion, visited the spaces of Embraer and sector companies from the Middle East, and opened the Brazil pavilion at the show, which has six companies.
Brazill’s minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, who was in the presidential mission to the event, told ANBA the main sectors in which Brazil is seeking investment in the Arab countries are oil, gas, and infrastructure, in addition to concessions of ports, highways, railways, and airports.
Embraer
In the space for Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft company, Bolsonaro got to know the airliner Profit Hunter E195-E2, which carries up to 146 passengers; the freighter KC390, which can fly up to 26 tonnes; the military turboprop Super Tucano; and the executive jet Praetor. He was accompanied by the company’s president, Francisco Gomes Neto, and the president of Embraer Defense and Security, Jackson Schneider, among other company executives.
Embraer has a marketing and sales office in Dubai. The company has executive planes operating in Arab countries like Jordan and Lebanon and aircraft at the Emirates Flight Training Academy and Etihad Training Academy.
This is the first aviation event with all Embraer areas represented since February 2020. Dubai Airshow is one of the four largest aviation shows worldwide, alongside Singapore, Paris (France), and Farnborough (England). The event takes place every two years in the emirate.
Brazil Pavilion
Bolsonaro cut the ribbon to open the Brazil pavilion at Dubai Airshow. The ceremony was attended by the president of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), Augusto Pestana; the Secretary of Defense Products (SEPROD) of the Brazilian Ministry of Defense, Marcos Degaut; the president of the Brazilian Defense and Security Industries Association (ABIMDE), Roberto Gallo; the Business Director of Apex-Brasil, Lucas Fiuza; and the Head of Operations of the Apex-Brasil Office for the Middle East and North Africa, Karen Jones.
Six companies are in the Brazil pavilion, organized by Apex-Brasil and ABIMDE, in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), the Brazilian Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, and the Brazilian Federal Government. They are Saipher, specialized in solutions for air traffic and airports; CSD Defense Components & Systems and M&K Logistics, with defense products logistics; Lace, with electronics solutions; Avionics Services, an aircraft electrical and avionics equipment installation and modernization company; and Akaer, technology solutions for aerospace and defense industries enterprise.
Other visits
Bolsonaro also visited Calidus, an aviation company from the United Arab Emirates which bought a defense aircraft design from Embraer five years ago and assembled the Calidus B250 in the UAE. So far, they have already built two aircraft with the Brazilian layout. The company wants to do more business with Brazil. An official informed the country is interested in a military tank model, the 8×8, made by the company in the UAE.
Another Emirati company visited by the president was Adasi, a subsidiary of the Edge group, which produces autonomous 3D-printed defense equipment such as helicopters, drones, and missiles. Missiles made by the company were on display. The company’s headquarters are in Al Ain, in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The visits were accompanied by senator Flávio Bolsonaro; federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro; the minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes; the minister of Tourism, Gilson Machado Neto; the special secretary of Culture, Mario Frias; the minister of Defense, Walter Braga Netto; the chief minister of the Institutional Security Office of the Presidency of the Republic, general Augusto Heleno; the minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina; the minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque; the minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos França; the ambassador of Brazil to Abu Dhabi, Fernando Igreja, among over 50 authorities and guests.
Before heading to the Dubai Airshow, Bolsonaro visited the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, standing at 828 meters high and 163 stories tall. After the show, he visited the BRF plant in the Abu Dhabi Industrial Zone (KIZAD), where he was received by the company’s CEO, Lorival Luz. BRF is a Brazilian food industry with a processing plant for poultry protein in the UAE since 2014. The unit has 520 employees and a production capacity of 72,000 tonnes a year, exporting products under the Sadia, Sadia Food Service, Perdix, Hilal, Confidence, and Sahtein brands to countries of the Arab League in the Gulf and North Africa.
“We are reaching three years of government and what we can do is not to hinder those who want to produce; our job is to collaborate with you,” said Bolsonaro at BRF, in an audio recording shared with the press who were unable to follow the visit.
The president went to dinner at the Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chão with the delegation in Dubai’s financial district during the night.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
