São Paulo – The governor of Brazil’s Goiás state, Marconi Perillo (an affiliate of party PSDB), and a delegation of government officials and business executives will fly to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this Friday (24). The goal is to seek out investors for major projects in the state, as well as increase exports from Goiás to those countries.
The delegation includes International Relations secretary Isanulfo Cordeiro, Foreign Trade superintendent William O’Dwyer, the president of Rede Goiana de Educação Internacional, Haroldo Reimer, and thirteen executives from a number of industries. They will travel to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in the UAE, and to the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The group will sit down for meetings with several investment funds in both countries, among them the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Saudi Arabia’s KSA Capital. They will also attend an investment promotion seminar and visit the Jebel Ali Free Zone, in Dubai, as well as the Gulfood expo, also in Dubai. The expo runs from February 26 to March 2.
The delegation will also visit the offices of arms company Caracal, whose executives have been to Goiás and considered opening a unit in the state.
The projects the governor is seeking investors for include a cargo airport in Anápolis. “The airport is nearly complete, and it could be a major national logistics hub for exports not only from Brazil, but from Latin America as well. We are very interested in drawing investment in via public-private partnerships for managing the airport,” said Cordeiro.
A high-speed rail project connecting state capital Goiânia and Brasília and costing BRL 9 billion total is also in the plans. “It is a very large project. Goiânia will be the first capital in Brazil to be linked to another capital by a train that travels at 200 km/h,” the secretary said. A prison in the city of Aparecida de Goiás will also be offered to Arabs as a potential investment target.
The delegation will have its first meetings on Sunday (26). On Tuesday (28), a Seminar for Promotion of Investment in the State of Goiás will bring together executives from Goiás and the UAE. The Brazilian participants hail from industries including agro foods, pharmaceuticals and their inputs, infrastructure and solar power. Following the seminar, the executives will sit down for exports-oriented matchmaking sessions.
According to Cordeiro, governor Perillo has been going on international missions for a long time now, and the UAE and Saudi Arabia were chosen because they’re both home to “major investment funds.”
“In the past 15 years, Goiás saw a 25-fold increase in exports and a tenfold increase in GDP. The state’s GDP is over BRL 170 billion. I am convinced that this growth is the result of the strong foreign trade policy that the state has put in place, which is bringing big industry players into Goiás,” Cordeiro pointed out.
The International Relations secretary added that the Middle East mission is organized in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with backing from the embassies of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Brasília, and from the Brazilian diplomatic representations in those countries.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
