São Paulo – The 8th edition of food industry show SIAL Middle East came to an end this Thursday (14) in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. Organizers said visitor turnout was up 28% over last year, with exhibitors making deals worth a combined AED 3.3 billion (USD 898.4 million), Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
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The three-day expo featured a Brazilian pavilion organized by Brazil’s ministries of Agriculture and Foreign Affairs, with backing from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
Arab chamber International Business executive Fernanda Baltazar, who attended the expo, said the Brazilian exhibitors enjoyed the event and told her that they see strong deal-making potential from the contacts they made.
In the sidelines of the trade show, Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun and special projects advisor Tamer Mansour met with the secretary-general of the Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry Humaid Mohamed Bin Salem.
“We discussed the Brazil-Arab Countries Economic Forum and our activity plans for the UAE in 2018,” said Hannun. The Forum will be held by the Arab chamber in April 2018 in São Paulo, with public and private sector delegates from both regions expected to attend. “They [the Federation] wish to be by our side and to support our efforts,” he said.
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Hannun and Mansour also convened with the managers of Yas Mall, Abu Dhabi’s biggest mall, where the Chamber is planning to have a Brazilian product week late next February. “The idea is to showcase value-added products from Brazil, as well as featuring culture- and art-related attractions,” said Hannun.
This Thursday (14), Brazilian companies on an investments mission alongside the Agriculture and Foreign Affairs ministries told executives from holding company Mubadala and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) about agribusiness projects that could be invested in.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
