In Dubai, São Paulo government tries to bring Brazil companies closer to the Arab market

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A group of 42 representatives of São Paulo-based companies started this Sunday (24) in Dubai, a marathon of contacts in a market highly dependent on imported consumer goods. For most of them, it is their first international business trip since the beginning of the pandemic.

The delegation will take advantage of the strong presence of entrepreneurs and importers in Dubai to participate in Expo 2020, the most significant and longest-running innovation and business fair in the world.

Since the first edition, in 1851, in London, the Universal Exposition has been the stage for innovations. Among the most striking is the Eiffel Tower, which has become an icon of Paris since its creation as the entrance arch to the 1889 Universal Exposition, hosted in the French capital.

For some of the Brazilian executives in Dubai, the market of the Arab Emirates is nothing new. BRF, for example, has a chicken processing plant in Abu Dhabi. Kidy, a family company from Birigui, in the interior of São Paulo, exports its line of anatomical children’s shoes to the region.

The so-called Dubai Mission is organized by InvestSP, an investment promotion agency linked to the São Paulo state government. Inaugurated last year, the representation in Dubai is the third international office of the São Paulo agency.

Shanghai and Munich were the first two, and the next one, in New York, will be opened in December. “The idea is to be in the four corners of the world,” says the president of InvestSP, Gustavo Junqueira. The cost of the agency’s offices is borne by the companies.

A few days before CoP26, the executives of the delegation will take advantage of the event to also show the engagement of Brazilian companies with the environmental cause. “We want to reinforce that, for us, the environment is not a cause; it is a business concern,” says BRF’s vice-president of sustainability, Grazielle Parenti.

Yesterday, secretaries from the State of São Paulo introduced the Brazilian delegation to local business people.

On Monday (25), the group followed up the contacts by visiting Nakheel, one of the largest real estate developers in Dubai, and DMCC, one of the largest free trade zones in the region, which has shown interest in attracting business involving coffee and cocoa With rare opportunities for food production, the Arab world shows great interest in food from Brazil.

Besides organizing the delegation of business people, the São Paulo government also took to Dubai an exhibition inside the Brazil Pavilion, one of the 190 of the gigantic fair.