Fortaleza – Brazil’s Ceará state is looking to attract Arab investment into projects in various sectors. This Monday (10th), ambassadors from countries in the Middle East and North Africa and executives from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce kept a long string of appointments with authorities in the state capital Fortaleza.
“We are here to learn about existing opportunities in market and exchange, and to call on you to encourage businessmen so that this may be a two-way relationship,” said Ibrahim Alzeben, ambassador of Palestine and dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil, regarding the object of their visit to the state.
State governor Cid Gomes (affiliated with the PROS party) and the mayor of Fortaleza, Roberto Bezerra (PROS), welcomed the group at Palácio da Abolição (Palace of Abolition), the seat of the state government. Gomes introduced several projects already implemented in the state and new plans that still require investment before being executed.
“Two particular sectors are worthy of special attention on your part. One is the building of a refinery. This is an industry in which we are keen on having Arab investment, considering your expertise in this field,” said Gomes. According to the governor, the project needs US$ 11 billion in investment. When completed, the facility could refine as many as 300,000 barrels of oil per day.
The second sector discussed by Gomes is urban transportation. The governor said US$ 1 billion have been invested in engineering for building the local metro’s east line. He explained, however, that investment is still lacking for purchasing equipment and making the line operational. “This should come at an estimated cost of US$ 600 million. We would like to find investors for a public-private partnership,” he said.
For his part, the mayor mostly spoke on tourism in Fortaleza. “Investment in this industry, such as in hospitality and services, are welcome. There are both the potential and the need for this type of investment in our city,” said Bezerra.
Following their visit to the palace, the group headed to the Ceará Events Centre, where they were welcomed by Marcos Pompeu, the state’s joint secretary for Tourism. Inaugurated in 2012, the centre spans over 152,000 square metres and may host up to 42 simultaneous events. According to the state government, it is the most state-of-the-art facility in the country for fairs and expositions.
“The tourism promotion policy [of Ceará] entails participating in domestic and foreign fairs and engaging in meetings with airlines,” said Pompeu, expressing his interest in attracting flights by Arab airlines into his state. According to the secretary, out of the 3 million tourists who visited Ceará in 2013, 10% were foreigners.
“We are stepping up investment in international promotion, seeking out partnerships with hotel chains and international airlines that could potentially promote Ceará,” he stressed. According to figures supplied by the Secretariat for Tourism of Ceará, from 2007 to 2014 the state has invested in excess of R$ 2 billion (US$ 782.6 million) in the industry.
At the Development Agency of the State of Ceará (Adece), the group was welcomed by CEO Roberto Smith. In his presentation, the executive gave an overview of the foremost sectors of the state’s economy. According to him, activity in Ceará concentrates on industry, energy, mining, trade, services and agribusiness.
“Considerable investments are being made in Ceará; they are currently at their maturing stage and will be important to the growth of the state,” said Smith. Of all the existing investment opportunities in the state, the ambassadors became most interested in renewable energy.
In Ceará, the principal sources of clean energy are wind and solar power. The state has a wind power generation capacity of 25,000 megawatts. Presently, the installed capacity is 1,010 megawatts, from 35 wind farms. “The state of Ceará is self-sufficient when it comes to energy,” said Adece’s CEO. Another investment opportunity presented is expansion works at the Pecém Port, which should see R$ 2.8 billion (US$ 1 billion) in investment until 2018.
The schedule of the Arab ambassadors in Fortaleza continues this Tuesday (11th) with a seminar at the headquarters of the Federation of Industries of the State of Ceará (Fiec).
The meetings held on Monday were attended by the ambassadors of Sudan, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait and the Arab League, the chargés d’affaires of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and the Arab Chamber’s Foreign Trade vice president Rubens Hannun and CEO Michel Alaby.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
