São Paulo – Businesspeople from Brazil had a networking evening with representatives from Arab companies on Monday (13) in an event held by the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC). The event took place in a reserved space at Di Paolo restaurant, near Expo Cento Norte, where food and beverage exhibition APAS Show is taking place, as part of the sideline events held by the institution.
At APAS Show 15 Arab firms participate in areas organized by the ABCC. Their executives and owners had the chance to network with Brazil and build a closer relationship with them at the cocktail party. APAS features Arab companies from the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon.
São Paulo-based logistics operator New Expo was at the event. The company provides services across all import and export logistics processess, from product collection at the exporting company to shipping and customs procedures upon the arrival at the destination country, among other stages involving trade between Brazil and other countries.
According to New Expo operation director Wesley Braga, who attended the ABCC cocktail party alongside the company’s head of freight forwarding, Gabriela Caram Ramos, the firm provides services in operations across all regions of the world. Of the Arab countries, New Expo operates in imports of defense and security materials from the UAE to Brazil, but the company’s executives attended the event precisely to network and broaden its operation in Brazil-Arab trade.
The cocktail party was also attended by representatives from Garra International, a Brazilian multinational that is huge in the trade of meats and has recently started operating with commodities such as foodgrains and pulp. The trading firm has offices in Brazil’s São Paulo and Cascavel, as well as the UAE, New Zealand, Australia, and Egypt, and workers in France, Jordan, Chile, Hong Kong, China, India, and the United States.
Garra operates not only with exports from Brazil but from Argentina, India, New Zealand, Australia, the US, Mexico, Uruguay, and Europe, bound to 60 different countries, mostly in the Middle East. The trading firm has their own brands of certain products in some markets and operates with export financing. Outsourcing manager Fernando Rosa attended the event in Di Paolo alongside his colleagues aiming to broaden their network and present Garra’s work to Arab and Brazilian businesspeople alike.
Another Brazilian interested in the Arab market is interior designer Katia Campista di Luccia from Santos, São Paulo state. Luccia develops interiors of residential buildings, and unlike others, she starts from the planning of the building together with the engineer. She also works with high-end furniture and wants to export them to the Arab market, as well as providing her designing services to real estate projects. Luccia believes there is much room for the luxury furniture she sells in Gulf states like the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
Arab-Brazilian Chamber acting as a networking bridge
Brazilians and Arabs were welcomed in Di Paolo by ABCC president Osmar Chohfi, who spoke briefly to the audience, highlighting the relevance of the Arab participation in the APAS Show. He said this presence via the ABCC is a sign of trust and added the institution want to help businesspeople from Arab countries in breaking into the Brazilian market. Arabs showcase dates, olive oils, snacks, frozen fruits and vegetables, and other products at APAS.
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The networking event was also attended by other Arab and ABCC leading figures like the institution’s CEO & secretary-general Tamer Mansour, international relations vice president Mohamad Orra Mourad, board members Alessandra Frisso, Mohamad Abdouni Neto, and Rubens Hannun, who is also the ABCC’s former president and honorary consul of Tunisia in São Paulo, as well as Tunisia’s ambassador to Brazil, Nabil Lakhal, and his wife Noura Korrab.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
