São Paulo – Thirty-three Arab companies are showcasing their products as of this Wednesday morning (30) in the fourth permanent display of Egyptian-made goods in Brazil, at Egypt’s Commercial Office in São Paulo on Paulista Avenue.
Featured items include handicraft, plastic and stationery, fresh fruit and vegetables, including dates, LED lamps, rugs, clothing, herbs and spices, tobacco, shisha essences, cotton, textiles, cotton underwear, pipes and fittings, and medical equipment.
And how does the exhibit work? “We invite Brazilian enterprises to come over and see the goods. We also invite everyone who comes by for meetings, people from different companies, federations, visiting delegations. We show them the products. Whenever someone’s interested, we try to convert it into an export opportunity,” said Egypt’s commercial consul to São Paulo, Mohamed Elkhatib.
Featured items are from Herbs Egypt, Old Chefs, Retaj, Al Garas, and EG Group – all of which deal in herbs and spices – as well as EG Gate, Grand Egypt, Embrator, Deniz, Blue Water, Garlico Company, Linah Farms, Eastern Company, Univest, Mintra, and Nakhla.
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“Garlico has specialized in fresh fruit and vegetables, especially garlic. Now that Brazil has opened up its market for garlic from Egypt, we hope to export lots of garlic in the next crop,” the consul said while showing the goods to visitors. Another player in the fruit and vegetable industry, Grand Egypt is also keeping tabs on the garlic market. “And as soon as the market opens for oranges and grapes, it will also offer these items,” he said.
Pharmaplast and Middle East are hospital industry companies. “Both have been to HospitalMed, an industry show in Recife, for the first time – we brought five companies,” he said. Brochures from Egyptian travel agencies were also available. According to Elkhatib, 23,000 Brazilians visited Egypt last year. “We expect to see double that amount this year.”
The other permanent exhibits are in Porto Velho, the capital on Rondônia, since September; Bragança Paulista, São Paulo, since August; and Campinas, São Paulo, since January. Elkhatib, who’s completing his four-year stint in Brazil, is slated to return to Cairo on November 20. He’s expecting to open up two more exhibits before that – in Rio de Janeiro and Gramado.
The UAE’s consul general to São Paulo, Ibrahim Salem Alalawi, and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce board member William Atui attended the exhibit’s opening. Pictured above from left to right are Alalawi, Elkhatib and Atui.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
