São Paulo – A meeting in the capital of São Paulo this Monday (05) will discuss the economic relations between Brazil and the United Arab Emirates and the main barriers faced by multinationals that operate in both countries. The 1st Brazil-United Arab Emirates Business Forum, organized by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI) and the UAE’s embassy in Brasília, will be held from 2 pm to 5 pm at the Tivoli Mofarrej Hotel.
According to information provided by CNI to ANBA, the forum will focus on facilitating the exchange of information on the legal environment of both countries and identifying priority issues and possibilities for the growth of trade and investments, to be forwarded later to both governments.
Among those invited to the meeting are sector associations, members of the Transnational Corporations Forum (FET) of CNI and managers of the CNI Network, which are the confederation’s Business International Centers. FET is a group of Brazilian companies with productive investments abroad. The Forum is also open to other companies which might be interested. According to CNI, given the demand by the embassy, they decided to hold the first meeting in the area to assess the interest of companies in this type of initiative.
FET members appointed topics that they believed to be a priority in the Brazil-UAE relations, such as red tape in the classification procedure of a Brazilian company and its products as a supplier for large corporations in the Arab country, the requirement for a local partner for industrial investments in the country and the obligation of hiring local workforce outside of the free trade zones, among others.
The forum will be opened by CNI’s director of Industrial Development, Carlos Eduardo Abijaodi, and by the UAE’s ambassador in Brazil, Hafsa Abdulla Mohamed Sharif Al Ulama. Soon after, there will be a panel called “Economic Outlook in Brazil and the United Arab Emirates”, with CNI’s Executive Manager of Economic Policies, Flávio Pinheiro de Castelo Branco, the DP World’s Chief Commercial Officer, Fábio Siccherino, and Mubadala Development Company’s Ricardo Paes.
The Forum’s other theme is “Improving the Business Environment for Bilateral Investments”, to be discussed in a panel with CNI’s Manager of International Negotiations, Fabrizio Panzini, and the Secretary of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC), Abrão Miguel Árabe Neto.
According to data made available by CNI, Brazil exported USD 2.5 billion worth of goods to the UAE last year and imported USD 200 million worth of goods from the country. From the total of Brazil’s exports to the UAE, around half is of finished products, 34% is of basic goods and 16% is of semi-finished products. The top exported item to the UAE is sugar, followed by meats, inorganic chemicals, iron and steel and mechanical machinery.
Among the sectors in which Brazilians have investments in the UAE, food products and tobacco come first, followed by consumer goods, aerospace, real estate services and financial services. The largest investor is BRF Brasil Foods. On the other hand, UAE investments in Brazil are concentrated particularly in storage, financial services, transportation, metals, hotels and tourism. The largest investor is DP World.
Quick info
1st Brazil-United Arab Emirates Business Forum
November 5 (Monday), from 2 pm to 5 pm
Tivoli Mofarrej, rua Alameda Santos, 1437 – São Paulo – SP
Free of charge – aimed at entrepreneurs
Registrations: 55 61 3317-9517
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
