São Paulo – Brazilian companies participating in Project Lebanon, a fair for the construction industry taking place in Beirut, Lebanon since last Tuesday (31st), are already celebrating the event’s good results. According to information supplied by the Brazilian ambassador to the Arab country, Paulo Fontoura, “to the exhibitors, the fair is exceeding expectations.” The fair will continue until next Friday (3rd).
According to the ambassador, the enterprises are making good contacts and some have even closed deals. “The companies are also scheduling meetings outside of the fair,” he says. Speaking to ANBA, Najib Wardini, the technical assistant to the trade promotion sector of the Brazilian embassy, revealed that the granite company Dacaza signed a contract for the sale of three containers with an importer who visited its stand.
The embassy is present at the Brazilian stand at the event, alongside the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and companies Monfiled, Saniram, Dacaza, KRJ, Astra, MHB and Portobello. According to Wardini, the fair also shows good perspectives for the electrical connector company KRJ, which has four importers interested in their products, and for Monfiled, an engineering company that has five enterprises interested in one of its projects, for turning waste into energy.
“The fair is great. We have had several visits,” said Mustapha Abdouni, the director of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, who is in Beirut. “The entrepreneurs are pleased with the number of visits and contacts,” he said. Visitors at the Brazilian stand on the first day of the event included the Lebanese minister of Economy, Mohammad Safadi, and Willlian Habib, the secretary general to the country’s Ministry of Foreign Relations.
Fernanda Rezaqui, a trader for the Astra company, which sells toilet seats, bathtubs, sinks, gardening items and other materials, claims that the fair is generating several contacts. “Lebanon is a new market and we are gaining a new perspective on it,” she says. Arab countries to which Astra already exports include the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Libya. Fernanda has committed to visiting points of sales of two importers who have shown interest in Astra’s products.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum