Marina Sarruf*
São Paulo – Two business fairs in the Arab world begin today (02): Tripoli International Fair, in Libya, and Project Qatar, in Qatari capital Doha. This is going to be the first time that the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce participates in the events promoting Brazilian companies. The fair in Tripoli, to end on April 12, includes various sectors, whereas the fair in Qatar, to end on Thursday (05), is in the construction sector.
In Tripoli, the Arab Brazilian Chamber has a 30-square-metre stand and two Brazilian companies are participating, Latinex, a trading company that sells food products in the city of Curitiba, capital of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, and Itatiaia Móveis, a furniture maker from the city of Ubá, in the state of Minas Gerais (SE Brazil). Another five Brazilian companies have sent catalogues. "We are travelling to study the market. There is already in Libya a very large concentration of Brazilian products like meats and sugar. The idea of participating in the fair is to diversify the Brazilian trade basket," stated the secretary general at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Michel Alaby, who will be at the event.
In the sidelines of the fair, Alaby is going to have meetings with representatives of the Libyan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and with five businessmen from the Arab country. "We are going to analyse the possibilities of creating a Brazil-Libya business council," he said.
Tripoli International Fair, which takes place annually, is at its 36th edition. This year, there will be over 4,500 companies from 45 countries participating, covering an area of 90,000 square metres. The economy of the Arab country is based on the oil and construction sector, as well as other sectors that are developing, like the agricultural, petrochemical, iron, steel and aluminium sectors. Last year, Libya grew 5%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Libya imports a great volume of machinery, semi-manufactured products and around 75% of the food consumed in the country. The main products shipped by Brazil to the Arab country are iron ore, cattle beef, vehicle engines, electric machinery and sugar. Last year Brazil exported US$ 203.34 million to the Arab country. Imports, in turn, totalled US$ 288.81 million. The main Libyan products exported to Brazil were oil, naphtha for the petrochemical industry and diesel oil.
Qatar
At the fair in Qatar, the Chamber will have a 36-square-metre stand that will include Vitrolar Metalúrgica, an ironworks company from the city of Mirassol, in the interior of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo. Another 11 companies are going to send catalogues, all in sectors connected to construction and decoration.
The construction sector in Qatar is growing yearly. With great projects, evaluated at US$ 50 billion, Qatar has become the centre of attractions in the sector. To have an idea, the new Doha international airport is evaluated at US$ 5.5 billion; the railway that will connect Qatar to Dubai will cost over US$ 3 billion, as well as the construction of more than 180 buildings, 39 being new hotels.
The fair has reached its fourth edition. Last year, 345 exhibitors participated, being 260 from 31 different countries, among them Australia, Austria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. In total, over 11,000 people visited the fair, mainly from Bahrein, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates.
The economy of Qatar is based on the oil and gas sectors, which answer to 80% of exports and 30% of the country Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to figures supplied by the Arab Brazilian Chamber. Last year, bilateral trade with Brazil totalled US$ 95 million. Brazilian exports generated US$ 87.14 million. The main products shipped were chicken and cattle beef, transformers, iron ore and shotgun cartridges. Brazilian imports from the Arab country were mainly concentrated on urea.
*Translated by Mark Ament
