By Ruane Santos
The Ministry of Defense, in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Defense and Security Materials Industries (ABIMDE), promoted, through the Secretariat of Defense Products (SEPROD), a meeting between the diplomatic corps of friendly nations and representatives of companies from the Brazilian Defense Industrial Base (BID). The event, which was named Brazilian Defense Day Embassies, was held on Wednesday (9), at the Clube da Aeronáutica in Brasilia, with the aim of strengthening relations and creating opportunities for marketing defense products, services and systems abroad.
Representatives from around 50 countries were present, including Austria, Chile, India, Mozambique, Nigeria, Oman, Czech Republic and Zimbabwe. They attended presentations by 48 Brazilian companies from the IDB, along the lines of Pitch Competition, which means showing and defending the business to investors. The event was also attended by the National Union of Defense Materials Industries (SIMDE) and the São José dos Campos Technology Park. For the ambassador of the Czech Republic in Brazil, Pavla Havrlíková, the meeting is important to develop further collaborations in the areas of defense and security between the countries. “The priority areas to develop collaboration between Brazil and the Czech Republic are precisely the area of defense, security and aerospace industry. This event is very important to learn more about the Brazilian structure, to get to know the Brazilian Armed Forces and to learn more about the active companies that are on the market in the aerospace industry”, he said.
Generating proximity between embassies and national companies, and a consequent increase in exports in the defense industrial sector, was what motivated Seprod to hold the meeting. On the occasion, the Secretary of Defense Products, Rui Chagas Mesquita, emphasized that “the Brazilian Defense Day Embassies is an unprecedented and important initiative of Seprod, fully aligned with its governmental attributions. The country’s defense and aeronautics industry is being presented to the diplomatic corps of friendly nations, in order to contribute to the internationalization of companies, making them better known in the foreign market and providing new business opportunities for our BID, which has the potential to generate economic and social advances for the country”, he said.