|
Expansion of business with the Arabs. This was the main objective of the businessmen from the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais who participated in the seminar that took place in the state last week.
The meeting, organized by the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (Fiemg), was included in the schedule of the visit to the state by the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil.
Brand Patachou, signed by stylist Tereza Santos, is one of the companies that want to work on expansion of participation on the Arab market.
According to the foreign sales manager, Andréa Ribas, the brand is already exported to four Arab countries: Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
"It is a market we want to invest in very much as it has great potential for development," explained Andréa.
Recognized on the Brazilian market for the originality of its collections, the brand is in the top of the Brazilian brand ranking and participates in the São Paulo Fashion Week, the most important fashion event in the country, which has been taking place since 1996.
So as to increase sales to the Middle East, the company intends to participate in sector fairs in the Arab countries and to establish partnerships with local distributors.
Another exporter present at the event and which is also betting on partnerships to sell more to the Arab countries is female shoe producer Spatifilus, which has been exporting to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates since 2002.
With 30 years on the market and daily production of 2,000 pairs, Spatifilus wants to increase the percentage of products shipped to the foreign market from 10% to 30% in five years.
According to the company export manager, Marina Purri, approximately 30% of exports are shipped to the Arab market, meaning that sales to the region will also be increased.
"It is a market of great opportunities. For this reason, any chance of closer relations and exchange of information, like this seminar, is very welcome," stated Marina.
Gems and Jewels
Brazil exports gems and jewels to over 40 countries. The Arab countries are among the emerging markets that are already among the main destinations for the sector.
In 2004, the Arab Emirates were in 2nd place for cut diamonds, 5th place for Brazilian rubies, sapphires and emeralds, and 8th place for manufactured jewellery. Bahrain was the 4th destination for ready jewels.
It was due to this demand from the Arab market that businessman André Luis da Silva, from gem and jewel producer Empire, participated in the seminar in Minas Gerais.
"We already export to France, Switzerland, Russia and the United States, and we now want to start prospecting the Arab market," stated Silva.
According to him, participation in fairs like Jewellery Arabia, in Bahrain, may be a good start for contacts with the region.
Last year, 10 Brazilian companies participated in Jewellery Arabia, with the support of the Brazilian Institute of Gems and Precious Metals (IBGM) and of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB). All closed deals.
This year the event will take place again between November 8 and 12. "We are already getting ready to participate in the event this year," guaranteed the businessman.
Anba - www.anba.com.br
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.