Agência Brasil*
Brasilia – The Brazilian government’s strategy to end with the intermediaries in the negotiations of national products with the Arab countries is the right way to expand trade. The statement is from the president of the Foreign Trade Operations Research Institute, Luiz Fernando Antônio, who as of Monday (09) will be in Brasilia, capital city of Brazil, for the Investments Fair that will take place parallel to the Summit of South American and Arab Countries.
In an interview to Agência Brasil, the government’s official news agency, the businessman emphasised that until they took the decision of negotiating directly with the Arabs, the Brazilian entrepreneurs sold their products to European and North American representatives “who resold to the countries in the Middle East up to three times more expensive”.
Information from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade show that, from 2003 to 2004, Brazilian exports to the region increased 46%.
Luiz Fernando Antonio believes that Brazilian businessmen are ready to strengthen trade partnerships with the Arab world. However, he warns that, because this is a “very demanding” market, one cannot fall into the temptation of going on adventures.
“It is important to be conscious that we will be competing directly with the Europeans, North Americans and Japanese, therefore we must be prepared, or else we will lose time and money,” evaluated the president of the Institute. He added that “the possibility will open up for those who are ready for this”.
In this sense, Luiz Fernando was sure to separate the concepts of small companies that are ready to deal with foreign trade of those which still don’t have the conditions of surviving in this market. “Any company that wishes to enter international trade has to be prepared, has to hire personnel who know the technical and cultural demands in each country,” stated the businessman.
Looking for new opportunities
If the Brazilian businessman José Luiz Diaz Fernandez had talked to Luiz Fernando, in 1999, maybe he wouldn’t have taken the initiative that opened the market in the United Arab Emirates for him. Room and living room furniture manufacturer, José Luiz saw, at the end of the 1990s, that the North American and European markets were saturated and without perspectives.
He decided, then, to take a flight to Dubai which, with the volume of business, is compared to Miami (USA), to try to open a new sales front. “I didn’t even know where the Arab Emirates were,” said the businessman from Brasilia who, this year, is trying to increment his trade with that country after having gone through “a tough period” in 2004.
José Luiz confirmed that the Arabs are known to be very demanding, mainly in what concerns meeting deadlines. “If the contract is not settled and signed, you might as well forget it,” he stated.
The foreign trade agent in a company manufacturing security equipment in the Federal District, Edvando Gomes de Souza, is going through a completely different moment from José Luiz. He didn’t have to go through door to door sales to trade his products with the Arabs. Recently, Jordanian entrepreneurs interested in buying motors and electronic gates looked for him.
In spite of still being in negotiation process with the Jordanians, Edvando Gomes believes he can turn that country into a port of entry for his product in the Middle East. For this, he follows the advice of the president of the Foreign Trade Operations Research Institute, and is already prepared to find more about the culture and the ways of negotiating with the Arabs. “Nothing can go wrong.”
*Translated by Silvia Lindsey
