São Paulo – Defense and security industry companies joined a seminar on internationalization and exports this Monday (22). The event was held by the Brazilian Defense and Industry Material Association (Abimde) at the offices of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo.
Abimde Projects director Paulo Albuquerque explained that many companies supplying the Armed Forces are unable to keep sales regular, since demand ebbs and flows depending on the product or service at hand.
“This industry depends on exports and ‘duality,’ i.e. the use of defense materials by civilian industries,” Albuquerque told ANBA. “And Abimde is committed to helping companies export,” he added.
Therefore, this seminar was geared at companies that aren’t habituated to foreign trade operations. This first event covered the main steps for a company to start exporting. The following events will delve into specific subjects. “We’ll go in-depth into other fields, like exports financing, for instance,” said Albuquerque.
He noted that apart from weapon manufacturers, Abimde comprises companies that deal in general technology, software development, aerospace engineering, security equipment etc. “These are innovative companies,” he remarked.
The industry’s view is that Brazil could be a much bigger player on the international field. The director of the Ministry of Defense’s Commercial Promotion Department, general Luis Antônio Duizit Brito, who attended the seminar, said defense product sales yield approximately USD 1.7 trillion a year worldwide, with exports from Brazil amounting for USD 4.2 billion as per Abimde numbers, and “controlled” product exports accounting for USD 1 billion of that amount.
“It’s not much, but we can grow,” said Brito. “We got visited by many international delegations that are seeking equipment and services,” he said. Brito believes exports of controlled defense products could increase tenfold, to about USD 10 billion.
He said one thrust could come from having Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), Abimde and other industry organizations join forces, not only to advertise Brazilian products and services in other countries, but to eliminate “unnecessary barriers” and encourage regulatory adjustments – or, in other words, propose and put in place measures that will make doing business easier.
Brito also said that apart from bringing revenue into the country, defense industry exports could mean more jobs and technological development.
Abimde relies on backing from consulting firm Ultramares Negócios Internacionais to put together an international strategy. The firm’s business manager Maurício Manfré told ANBA that he’s working on building a network of market intelligence agents to keep track of industry movements around the world, especially in markets deemed as priorities. Once the data have been collected, the plan is to produce reports and chart out an action plan for companies to follow.
Arab market
The Arab market is considered one of the most strategic for the industry. “We have a historically good relationship with the Arab market in the defense industry,” Paulo Albuquerque pointed out.
In that sense, Arab Brazilian Chamber CEO Tamer Mansour and Institutional Relations manager Fernanda Baltazar talked to the businessmen about how to do deal with the Arab countries, explained cultural issues and market information. “In one of today’s themes, we talked about the barriers we often encounter in the American continent and the Arab world. Technology and cultural barriers. The idea was to show how to behave when confronted by those barriers,” Albuquerque said. “We must expand our knowledge and encourage companies to reach the [Arab] market,” he said.
Abimde has a trade promotion agreement with Apex-Brasil. Later this year, it’ll take Brazilian companies to participate in the defense and security trade shows Dsei in London, Milipol in Paris, and Expodefensa in Bogotá. In the first half, Brazil exhibited at IDEX, an industry show in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Arab delegations visited Laad Defense & Security in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Thais Souza collaborated. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum & Guilherme Miranda
