São Paulo – The Brazilian state of Goiás is working to attract Arab investment into infrastructure projects. It was the state’s secretary of International Affairs, Elie Chidiac, who organized the coming to Brazil, in April, of representatives of the state-owned company National Marine Dredging, based in Abu Dhabi, which specializes in dredging of ports. Among other appointments, the executives attended meetings at the Special Secretariat for Ports of the Republic and with the government of the state of Santa Catarina, as reported by ANBA in the Southern Frontier column.
“Goiás, alongside the federal government and Santa Catarina, is interested in improving the ports infrastructure for the outflow of its products,” said the secretary. “The state is no different from the rest of Brazil and needs foreign investment to improve its infrastructure,” he added.
Located in the Midwest of the country, Goiás has no outlet to the sae, so it needs to use ports in other states to export and import goods. This was the reason for the meeting with the Santa Catarina government, because there is a project for expanding the São Francisco do Sul Port. The Arab executives even flew over the site. According to Chidiac, the project is evaluated at US$ 300 million.
It is worth noting that Goiás is a major producer and exporter of agricultural products, especially soy, beef and poultry. The state is also a large producer of medication, ores and precious stones.
On the other hand, the state of Goiás needs to import products such as equipment for its crops and parts for the automobile industry. The Korean automaker Hyundai and the Japanese Mitsubishi own plants in the state, and the also Japanese Suzuki should also have one in the future.
The secretary stated that he should soon travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, to proceed with the talks and contact other organizations. He argued that in addition to funds, the country possesses strong know how in the field of port construction and management. Dubai Ports World, for instance, is now one of the leading port operators in the world.
“The Arabs are involved in a small number of projects in Brazil thus far, but they have the most liquidity in the world, because of the oil price,” he said. “Brazil needs to take a step further and encourage them to make direct investment here,” added Chidiac, who was born in Lebanon, highlighting that presently, large volumes of Arab capital enters the country by means of European companies.
In order to ship products in and out of the port, ground logistics need improving as well, especially regarding the roads, railways and warehouses. Chidiac claimed that the Arabs are not the only ones that the government of the state aims to attract, and underscored that the Chinese are keenly interested in investing in agriculture and infrastructure.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
