Brazilian and Colombian companies will join in a business round in the Colombian capital, Bogota, on June 27.
According to Maria Elvira Pombo, director of Proexport Colombia, the Colombian trade office, in Brazil, “the governments of Colombia and Brazil are committed to expanding and intensifying trade relations and hence are sponsoring the second business meeting for entrepreneurs from the two countries.”
She explained that the second edition of the event (the first was held last July in the city of São Paulo) will focus on export and import trade and include an investment forum for potential Brazilian investors in Colombia. She also informed that Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and ílvaro Uribe will participate.
According to Pombo, 183 Colombia export firms plan to attend the meeting, together with 18 Brazilian exporters, 44 Brazilian import firms, and 58 Colombia importers.
All the importers at the first meeting were from Brazil. The encounter, which brought together 107 Brazilian importers and 59 Colombian exporters, generated around US$ 17 million in business.
According to data from the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (Apex), Brazil exported US$ 534 million worth of goods to Colombia during the first five months of this year, 50.34% more than the US$ 355 million exported during the same period last year.
Industrial products constituted 95.8% of Brazil’s exports to Colombia, while basic products accounted for 1.4%.
The chief items exported to Colombia this year include: portable cell phone terminals (8.99%), sheet iron and steel (7.45%), vehicle chassis with motors (3.63%), automobiles (2.96%), beverage preparations (2.25%), and combustion engines (1.49%).
Brazil’s principal imports from Colombia were: coal (18.65%), propylene copolymers in an elementary state (12.75%), coked coal (7.75%), carbon black (5.49%), and new tires for buses and trucks (5.09%).
Agência Brasil