Marina Sarruf*
marina.sarruf@anba.com.br
São Paulo – The business mission from the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais that is currently prospecting the Arab market is going to arrive today (4th) in Cairo, Egypt, where it should participate in meetings with entrepreneurs and local government officials, starting on Sunday. Comprised of 47 people, the delegation is coming from the United Arab Emirates, where it made a series of visits and business contacts.
Headed by the deputy governor of Minas Gerais, Antonio Anastásia, and the president at the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (Fiemg), Robson Braga de Andrade, the businessmen from Minas are going to attend a seminar on the weekend about how to negotiate with Egypt, to be given by the secretary general at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Alaa Ezz. The Egyptians are also going to hear a lecture by the secretary general at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby.
"I am going to discuss the activities of the Arab Brazilian Chamber, the fairs in which we took part, including the Cairo Fair, bilateral trade and the growth of trade between Brazil and the Arab countries," stated Alaby, who is accompanying the mission from Minas.
According to him, the opening of the event is going to be attended by the Egyptian minister of Foreign Trade and Industry, Rachid Mohamed Rachid, the president at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, Mohamed El Masry, the president at the Brazil-Egypt Business Federation, Ashraff El Attal, and the president at the Egyptian Businessmen Association, Adel Gazarin.
After the lectures, business meetings will be held among businessmen in the sectors of textiles, food, footwear, fashion, rubber, coffee, raw material for cosmetics, furniture, fertilisers, pulp, paper and cardboard, marbles and granites, civil construction products, and plastics.
Brazilian exports to Egypt totalled US$ 1.23 billion last year, a reduction of 8.8% compared with the previous year. The main products shipped were beef, iron ore, sugar, aircraft, aluminium oxide (for aluminium manufacturing), chassis with engines, soy, tobacco and paper.
In turn, Brazilian imports from the Arab country totalled US$ 52.77 million in 2007, an increase of nearly 80% compared with the previous year. Superphosphate, phosphate, medical instruments and devices, cotton and bovine leather were the main items imported.
Dubai
In the United Arab Emirates, where the mission was staying before it arrived in Egypt, the businessmen visited the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where they attended business meetings at real estate developer Nakheel, Masdar, the company in charge of the Sustainable City project in Abu Dhabi, DP World, Jebel Ali Port and the Distribution Centre maintained by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) in partnership with the Arab Brazilian Chamber.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
