SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – (Emirates News Agency ) São Paulo’s Trade Promotion Office, which was opened in Dubai on Monday, February 10th, will further enhance Brazil’s business relations with the entire Middle East, the state Governor said.
“It is our strategic position and a strategic decision,” João Doria told Emirates News Agency, WAM. “The reason we chose Dubai to open this office is because of the UAE’s importance in the Middle East and Africa regions,” he said in an exclusive interview in Abu Dhabi.
São Paulo had opened its first overseas office in Shanghai in China in August 2019. “This is our second overseas office to help attract investments from the Middle East to São Paulo,” the gpvernor added.
The Dubai office will facilitate investment relations between private sector companies in São Paulo and the UAE, said Doria, who is on a 6-day official visit to the UAE with a large business delegation that holds meetings with companies and local investors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
São Paulo’s economy is growing almost three times faster than the Brazilian national economy, he pointed out. According to Investe São Paulo, the state’s investment promotion agency, São Paulo accounted for 31 percent of Brazil’s GDP and made up 32 percent of domestic income generated in Brazil’s service sector in 2017.
“São Paulo is a very strong state in Brazil,” he said. “With a population of 45 million people, São Paulo is the 4th largest consumer market in Latin America.”
Doria and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, led the opening ceremony of São Paulo’s office at Dubai Maritime City, attended by CEOs and leaders of 50 Brazilian companies as well as senior government officials.
Exports from Brazil to Arab countries grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year to reach US$12.197 billion in 2019, while Brazilian imports from the region reached a value of US$6.99 billion, according to the Dubai Media Office.
The governor believes that, because São Paulo is privatizing a large number of its key sectors, investors in the UAE will be interested in those investment opportunities.
The Dubai office will be able to give information to the investors, he said.
“We are privatizing railways, roads, seaports, airports, waterways etc. The investment funds based in Abu Dhabi can have great interest to study and probably to invest in this privatization program,” Doria noted.
Combating corruption and crimes in the state has been a “top priority” of the governor, explaining that digitalization of the government systems has helped control corruption. “We are on the way to 100 percent digitalization,” he said.
Doria, a former journalist, was the mayor of the City of São Paulo from 2017-2018 and became the state Governor in November 2018.
Source: Emirates News Agency