São Paulo – Small businessmen from Minas Gerais are going to receive export incentives. The federal government launched last week, in partnership with the state government, program "1st Export – Minas Gerais". The objective is to proceed with actions for diffusion of the export culture and to adjust and insert micro, small and medium companies into foreign trade. This information was supplied by the government of the state of Minas Gerais.
"The project is geared at integrated solutions together with state organisations and institutions, through the activity of higher-level students who operate as true technicians for extension of projects alongside small companies," stated the Foreign Trade analyst at the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Eduardo Weaver.
With duration of 12 months, the 1st Export project began in Alagoas three years ago. Then it was implemented in Rio Grande do Norte, Goiás and Espírito Santo. In 2009, it should be implemented in Minas Gerais, Pernambuco and Ceará. General coordination of the project is by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, and should count on a managing committee made up of foreign trade agents, class organisations, teaching institutions and the state government.
The next phase, in Minas Gerais, should be the definition of partner higher education institutions. In January, with the participation of Central Exportaminas – the state branch that provides export incentives – the Ministry promoted, in Belo Horizonte, the Industrial Exporter Extension Program (Peiex). Apart from providing incentives to the export culture, actions to expand company competitiveness are also developed.
The state of Minas Gerais should have six operating nuclei to act in the 1st Export, each made up of eight professionals graduated in the areas of administration and organisation, product and manufacture, finance and cost, sales and marketing, human resources and foreign trade. All services to companies will be free of charge.
The Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) already supports 30 projects in Minas Gerais. They benefit 490 companies in all sectors, but mainly in the area of shoes, textiles and furniture.
*Translated by Mark Ament