São Paulo – Euromed, an Egyptian company that makes medical products, bets on the Brazilian market and plans to open a subsidiary in São Paulo in the near future. This information was disclosed by the vice president at the company, Wael Reda Abdou, who was in the capital of São Paulo last week.
"We want to establish a company here to grant consultancy and promote marketing of our products," said the businessman to ANBA. This is one of the actions that the company plans to promote to significantly expand exports to Brazil.
According to Abdou, Euromed sells the equivalent to US$ 500,000 a month in products like syringes and catheters to the Brazilian market, generating US$ 6 million a year. Up to 2014, the company aims to increase exports to US$ 50 million a year.
The executive stated that Brazil is a market that demands greater quality than quantity and that the requirements of inspection organisations, like the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro), are more rigorous than those practiced in Europe and in the United States.
Abdou said that the factory adapted its products to Brazil and is now reaping the rewards of work that demanded patience. The company’s first investment in the country took place in 2004, when it showed its products at Hospitalar, a fair in the medical sector that takes place in São Paulo.
"From 2004 to 2008 we participated [in the fair] each year without selling anything, but we had identified the potential of the region. Now we are reaping the benefits of our patience," said the businessman. With this experience, Abdou plans to use his branch in Brazil to provide consultancy to other Arab companies interested in entering the Brazilian market.
According to him, Euromed has 450 employees at its factory in Cairo. Apart from supplying the European market, the company exports to 37 countries in different regions, especially Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Brazil is now among the main destinations.
Invitation to Lula
Abdou is also the vice president of the Brazil-Egypt Business Council. In this respect, apart from his own business, he visited Brazil to discuss matters of general interest to companies operating in bilateral trade.
Among the themes that interest the Council is the creation of a direct shipping line between both countries to reduce the delivery time of cargo. Currently, according to the executive, a shipment from Egypt to Brazil, which has to be transhipped in another country, takes almost one month. He believes that with this simplification alone sales to Brazil could double.
Another matter of interest by the organisation is approval by the Brazilian congress of a free trade agreement signed last year between Egypt and the Mercosur. The businessman believes that, in the case of Egypt, the treaty may be ratified by the transition government, in the hands of the military, even before promotion of presidential elections in the country.
With the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, who governed Egypt for 30 years, due to protests earlier this year, Abdou said that what is taking place is an "Egyptian rebirth". He is optimistic regarding the future and finds it possible to improve what is good in the country and fix what was bad.
The economy, for example, according to the executive, has progressed much in recent years and Egypt has received much foreign investment, but the same did not occur in the political and social areas. The challenge is now to make these three aspects progress together.
In this respect, the Council invited former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to visit Egypt and participate in a "great conference" to speak to different strata of Egyptian society about Brazil’s recent experience. Abdou met with Lula last Monday, during a ceremony in honour of the president at the Federation of Muslim Associations of Brazil (Fambras) at Mount Lebanon Club, in São Paulo.
The perception, according to him, is that Brazil has lived a similar transformation and can now conciliate economic growth with democracy and social inclusion, which may serve as an example for Egypt.
According to Abdou, Brazil and Lula are "inspiring to the Egyptian people". "He (Lula) may develop a ‘roadmap’ adapted to our culture," said the businessman.
Lula himself spoke about the matter – of Brazil as an example of democratic transition – in a recent forum promoted by television network Aljazeera, in Doha, Qatar. North American president Barack Obama was another that praised the Brazilian model while visiting the country little over a week ago.
Contact
Euromed
Tel.: (+202) 2272-5952 and 2272-5953
E-mail: euromed@euromed.com.eg
Site: www.euromed.com.eg
*Translated by Mark Ament
