Isaura Daniel, special envoy*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
Doha – In October, Qatar, a Middle Eastern country, is going to promote a meeting between Arabs and descendents living away from their countries of origin. The initiative of the Qatari Businessmen Association was the subject of a meeting held yesterday (22nd) in Doha between the general director at the organisation, Bassam Massouh and the secretary-general, Michel Alaby, and director Wladimir Rafik Freua, from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. The two visited the country as part of a business mission for the civil construction sector promoted by the Arab Brazilian Chamber and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) to three Gulf nations.
The Qatari Businessmen Association wants to bring together 1,500 businessmen from different regions of the world, including Brazil. He invited the Arab Brazilian Chamber to be the mediator for the meeting in the country. It will be a conference during which the actions of Arab businessmen around the world will be showcased, and according to Alaby, it should contribute for Arabs living in their countries of origin to use some of the experience gained by their former fellow countrymen. The secretary-general believes that the Brazilians are going to be interested in participating in the meeting. The conference will also present the economies of the Arab countries and their idiosyncrasies.
In addition to inviting the Brazilians to the meeting, Massouh also talked to the Arab Brazilian Chamber representatives about the need for taking a business delegation from Qatar to Brazil, so as to increase economic relations between the two countries. Brazil has already promoted several business missions to Qatar. The general director believes that Brazilians may find good business opportunities in his country, especially in the field of construction and related sectors, such as furniture and decoration. Bilateral trade between Qatar and Brazil totalled US$ 137 million in the first ten months of this year. Although the figure is not very high, it has been growing, as in the same period of 2006 it stood at US$ 55 million.
Massouh recommends for Brazilians to specialise and try selling higher value-added, high technology products to Qatar, in order to increase the flow of trade even further. Presently, Qatar is a strong buyer in the construction sector, making heavy investments in the field. In Doha it is no longer possible to walk more than a kilometre without passing a construction site. The Arab country is a producer of oil and gas, commodities whose prices have been witnessing significant increase on the international market in recent years, and this has been boosting the local economy. It grew 24% in 2006, according to Massouh.
Another driving force behind the growth, according to him, is the future-oriented vision of the local government, which has been making efforts in developing the knowledge field and investing in education. Qatar is attracting several foreign educational institutions. Among those that have established Medical courses in the country is Cornell University, from the United States. Oil revenues, according to the general director at the Qatari Businessmen Association, are also being used for making the country receptive to foreign investment and immigration. One of the areas into which Qatar intends to attract foreign capital and professionals is precisely that of energy, as the country wants advanced technologies for the sector.
Brazilian vision
Some of the Brazilian businessmen who visited the country on the mission were impressed with the volume of ongoing construction works in Doha. "I am impressed, I have been travelling to many countries and never have I seen as much construction as I have here," said Heber Santos, export manager at Induscabos, a Brazilian maker of electric cables and wires that is a member of the delegation. During his stay in Qatar, Santos had a meeting with an importer that should result in a business deal. However, the negotiation still depends on price setting. The contract, according to Santos, for supplying low-tension cables for buildings, is valued at US$ 5 million. "He was pleased with the quality of the product," says Santos.
The regional sales manager at Starrett, Sérgio Luís Teizen, also believes in the potential of the markets that he had visited until yesterday on the mission: Kuwait and Qatar. "The overall impression that we have is that business possibilities are very wide-ranging," said the manager. The major opportunities, he says, are in Qatar. Starrett is a multinational company in the tool sector that owns a factory in Brazil. Teizen plans to return to Qatar in April next year to resume his search for markets.
"There is construction work here, but they do not know Brazil very well yet," said the president at the Brazilian Association for Dimension Stones Industry (Abirochas), Sérgio Azeredo. The executive, who also owns SP Stones, another company in the sector, is going to pass on to the Abirochas associates the recommendation that it is important to have a local partner in order to enter the market in the two countries that he visited. Azeredo says that he noticed a strong presence of Chinese and Indians in the Gulf ornamental stone market, but claims that Brazil has a variety and a quality that they do not possess. "Brazil has 1,000 different types of granite," he asserts.
The president at Usmatic, Edmilson Marcondes dos Santos, is on the mission seeking a local partner, in the Gulf, to establish a hydrometer manufacturing plant. Today, he has a meeting scheduled with a Qatari businessman in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, who is interested in the partnership. Edmilson wants to establish factories in many different regions of the world, including other Arab countries, in North Africa, with which he is already negotiating. The businessman wants to transfer his product manufacturing technology and to send the hydrometer gears for the items to be finished in the Arab country. Usmatic is a holding that owns six factories, and it also manufactures central irrigation pivots.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
