São Paulo – The results of the business roundtables between enterprises based in Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, held yesterday and today (14th) at the headquarters of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, in São Paulo, were considered positive by those in attendance. “The feedback that I got from the companies is that the meetings were very good. They believe the results of these meetings will be greatly beneficial to both sides,” said the CEO of the Dubai Export Development Corporation (EDC), Saed Al Awadi, who is heading the delegation from the Arab country.
In addition to the meetings at the Chamber, the EDC representatives attended meetings at the São Paulo State Investment and Competitiveness Promotion Agency (Investe São Paulo), the state’s fostering agency Nossa Caixa and the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp).
“Nossa Caixa offered itself to meet with the Dubai-based companies that want to establish themselves in Brazil to offer financing,” said Awadi. The meeting may take place in the next two days, during which the mission will remain in Brazil to deepen the contacts made during the roundtables. The meeting at the Fiesp was attended by the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Salim Taufic Schahin, the CEO of the organization, Michel Alaby, and other members of the board.
“The mission, including the businessmen, has broadened the range of opportunities in trade and investment,” said Alaby. He added that the Chamber may request support from the EDC to promote business meetings in Dubai, on occasions when it takes Brazilian businessmen to the emirate, for example during the Big 5 Show, a trade fair for the building industry due November.
Marcos Eduardo Regina, the president of All Here Franchising, which owns the brands Pastelândia, Burgerland and Família Regina, was one of the Brazilian entrepreneurs who attended the business roundtables. He explains that his company is already present in Angola, Angola, Portugal and the United States, and now it wants to enter Dubai. “We want to repeat the success of Angola where, in one and a half year, we opened 20 stores and are earning revenues of US$ 1 million per month,” he claimed. “The talks were good. We are now taking care of our next steps, which are visiting the country, choosing the spots and seeing how we are going there, as master franchisers or as partners in the operation,” he finished off.
“The Brazilian companies showed much openness to business with the Arab world. They may work in a two-way street, from Dubai to Brazil and from Brazil to Dubai,” said Mohamed El Kati, the Foreign Markets manager at the Dubai Export, which took part in the roundtables as the representative of two Arab companies.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
