Juan Quirós President of APEX-Brazil

The Brazilian Agency for Exports Promotion and Investments (APEX) is associated to public and private organizations in more than 200 promotional commercial projects abroad. These concern 52 sectors of the industrial and services providing areas involving companies from all Brazilian states.
In 2004, more than 13,500 small and medium companies participated in actions carried out abroad by APEX. The estimated figure points at 15,000 for the year 2005.

Within the strategy of insertion of new products and enterprises in foreign markets, the participation in fairs and meetings deserves the special attention of APEX-Brazil. Each year, the Brazilian participation in international fairs has grown significantly: from four hundred meetings in 2003 to five hundred in 2004, and by the end of 2005 this amount will reach the mark of five hundred and fifty. In other words, over a three-years period (since its creation) APEX-Brazil has provided Brazilian companies with all the support needed to participate of about fifteen hundred meetings. Every week, a fair or congress takes place somewhere in the world, each of them attended by thirty five to forty Brazilian companies …

The Federal Government has been working closely with the private sector and the results are outstanding: in 2004, a twelve billion dollars business volume was registered resulting from the participation in meetings held locally and abroad. The estimation for 2005 is of twenty billion dollars exports, due only to the projects carried out by APEX-Brazil.

Figures speak by themselves. Brazil is becoming ever more present at international fairs. Aware of this potential, APEX-Brazil definitely stresses the valuable source of information UBRAFE represents in this field, and will work even harder so that a larger number of companies should get access to the foreign market in a more sustainable way in 2006.

Juan Quirós
President of APEX-Brazil