São Paulo – Minas Gerais governor Romeu Zema, Brazil’s vice president Hamilton Mourão, and Varginha, Minas Gerais mayor Vérdi Lúcio Melo had an online meeting with Emirati authorities last Tuesday (21) to discuss having the Arab country invest in the state.
VP Mourão spoke on the phone with UAE deputy prime minister and minister of Presidential Affairs, sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Afterwards, Zema and Vérdi had a videoconference with UAE minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Bin Ahmed Sultan Al Jaber and UAE minister of State for for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama. Other authorities also joined the conversation, including Brazil’s ambassador to the UAE, Fernando Igreja.
According to a Minas Gerais government press release, opportunities were presented in technology, energy, industry, and artificial intelligence. Brazil’s VP Mourão tweeted that discussions also covered Brazil-UAE relations, the National Legal Amazon Council, and the UAE’s support for a Technology Center project in Varginha, Minas Gerais.
Varginha
A sustainable Technology Center project is being worked on by local entrepreneur Cleber Marques de Paiva, who also chairs Porto Seco Sul de Minas (the South Minas Dry Port). The center should focus on industrial technology and clean energy development. Varginha’s mayor told ANBA that would-be UAE investors can get tech information and products including ore and coffee in return for their investment.
Mayor Melo explained that the project is at an early stage, and the opportunity to invest in it has been presented to the Arabs. Two online meetings have been held in the past with UAE officials, and a delegation from Brazil is expected to travel to the Gulf country this year – possibly next September.
The Varginha City Hall announced that Tuesday also saw a meeting in state capital Belo Horizonte, with technical aspects of the project discussed by government secretariat staff and Varginha councilmen Leonardo Ciacci and Zacarias Piva, who are supporting the project alongside the City Hall. “Our idea is to get this investment into Varginha, so that the local industry can gain access to advanced technologies from the UAE,” a press release quoted Melo as saying.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
