The Arab countries offer opportunities for agricultural, game and innovation startups. According to Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) secretary-general Tamer Mansour, the Arab investments in startups come in two fronts – demand and opportunity – and they can invest in Brazilian startups in one of these two fronts.

According to him, there’s demand for agricultural technology to improve the crop’s performance and estimate the right time for harvesting through technologies forecasting the weather. “Startups that work to improve the farm output are welcome in countries such as Lebanon, Sudan, Algeria and Jordan,” the secretary-general said during the webinar “Innovation and Technology in the Arab World and the Transformation of the Chamber of Commerce in the New World Situation” on Monday (14) morning.

He said that in the Arab Gulf, particularly the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, there are opportunities for Brazilian game and innovation startups. “One of the world’s largest game consumers is Saudi Arabia,” Mansour pointed out. According to him, the kingdom has invested heavily in foreign companies and tried to attract game startups to work there, in order to invest, add and reexport technology.

Mansour went on to point out Egypt and Saudi Arabia as potential re-export hubs for Brazilian industries. “Egypt is the only Arab country with a free trade agreement with Mercosur and is a partner of Brazilian exports, and Brazilian companies have been thinking about using the agreements that Egypt has with other country for re-exports. Egypt has free trade agreements with other Arab countries, the European Union, Turkey, and 18 African countries, and is working on penning an agreement with the entire Africa,” the secretary-general said.

He pointed out that the talks for a Cairo-São Paulo nonstop flight are at their final stages and that the first nonstop flight between Brazil and Egypt should be announced soon.

About Saudi Arabia, Mansour reported that there is a large restructuration underway to embrace other sectors of the economy and diversify the country’s sources of income beyond oil, but there’s a very big need to import products from other countries.

Therefore, the Saudis have attracted companies to manufacture in the country and work as a re-export distribution hub in the region. “An example is the pharma industry. Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the pharma and hospital industry and has offered incentives for pharma industries to settle there. The defense industry has getting stronger in the country, too, so are ore and marble and granite, which are in high demand,” he said.

Mansour addressed smart cities in the Arab countries, the new Ellos Blockchain service by the ABCC, and the digital adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was held in partnership with São Paulo Tech Week and featured SP International Businesses director Silvana Gomes.