Dubai – Meat, candies, sugar, coffee, açaí, juices, nuts, grains. These are just some of the products Brazil is showing in the largest food fair in the Middle East, Gulfood, which started this Sunday (17) in Dubai World Trade Centre, United Arab Emirates. Five companies are in the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce‘s stand — Florestal, Dom Glutão, Nutrire, RCMA Group, and O Primo Logistica — 79 participate in the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (APEX-Brasil) stand, and others have their own pavilions, specially the slaughterhouses.
APEX-Brasil hosted an opening ceremony in its pavilion with the Brazilian ambassador in UAE Fernando Igreja, who cut the symbolic ribbon together with Karen Jones, APEX chief-executive for MENA office in Dubai, and the Council of Arab Chambers president Walid Yazigi.
“To the Brazilian businessmen who came for this edition of Gulfood: it is always a pride for the embassy to welcome you here,” said Igreja. Jones wished good business throughout the event and stated that APEX office in Dubai is available to support companies to develop business after the fair.” Gulfood is the event that has the largest presence of Brazilians here in the Middle East and is where Apex has its largest investment, with four pavilions (world food, grains, beverages and meat), always with a significant participation. For some companies, it is the main or even the only strategic business action in the region,” said Jones.
“Gulfood is one of the most important food fairs in the world, with thousands of exhibitors and visitors, and I could see today that Brazil is very well represented by both the Arab Brazilian Chamber and APEX and individual stands of several Brazilian companies. I was very impressed with the fair and I think that this presence effort will have very concrete results for Brazilian exports,” said Osmar Chohfi, vice-president of International Relations of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, present at the ceremony.
Poultry
The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA, acronym in Portuguese) is present at the APEX pavilion representing Brazilian poultry, with stands of several companies from the sector and chicken shawarma for visitors.
Before arriving in Dubai, representatives of the entity were in Saudi Arabia for a meeting with the country’s health surveillance, the SFDA. “We made some alignments to bring the [Brazilian] private sector closer to the Saudi authority, it was a very warm visit and we are waiting for its response,” ABPA executive director Ricardo Santin told ANBA.
About Gulfood, Santin said that the event is becoming increasingly global, with visitors from all over the world. “Poultry is absolute in this region, it is one of the goods most commercialized [from Brazil to Arabs], we have a partnership dated from more than 40 years, so our goal in the fair is that the companies come to visit us, develop new businesses and strengthen the links we already have with the Middle East, besides perceiving the changes in market and developing improvements in our processes,” Santin said.
According to official information from the event, Gulfood has almost five thousand exhibitors and should receive 98,000 visitors from more than one hundred countries. The fair goes until February 21.
Gulfood
18 to 20, from 11 am to 7 pm
21, from 11 am to 5 pm
Dubai World Trade Centre
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
