Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is traveling to São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil, to open Hospitalar 2008, an international trade fair for the medical sector that begins this Tuesday, June 10, at Expo Center Norte.
In addition to products and services on display, there should debates on the sector. More than 50 meetings will be held to discuss the healthcare field. Other fairs will be held on the sidelines of Hospitalar 2008, such as Diagnóstica (for diagnosis) and "Tecnologia e Assistência" (for technology and assistance).
Hospitalar will last four days. A total of 1,100 exhibiting companies, based in 13 Brazilian states and 33 different countries, are going to display products, equipment, and services for use in hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and practices.
Among the exhibitors, 370 will be foreign companies. Organizers are expecting more than 76,000 visitors, which was the number recorded in the 2007 edition. The Brazilian fair, according to its organizers, has become the most important for the sector in Latin America.
The project should include 24 buyers from 17 different countries. Participating in business meetings with Brazilian medical companies will be importers from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Slovenia and Indonesia.
The roundtables' organizers expect to close business deals worth US$ 7 million in the twelve-month-period following the meetings. Last year, the Buyer Project resulted in export deals of US$ 6.5 million for the Brazilian companies.
Among the foreign participants there will be five companies and one association from Egypt. The Egyptian firms that will have stands at the fair are El Ezaby Trading, which imports and sells medical equipment, Enteplin Egypt, a manufacturer of infusion, transfusion and dialysis equipment, Euromed for Medical Industries, for syringes and sterilizers, Millenmed Solutions, which creates software for the sector, and Pharmaplast, a maker of first-aid items.
The Egyptian Exporters Association (Expolink), which works to encourage exports in the country, will also be represented at the Hospitalar. This is not the Egyptians' first time at the fair.
"The Arab market is very wealthy and is constantly investing in new technology. These exhibitors add value to Hospitalar by bringing in new products, new developments in the healthcare field. These are high-quality companies becoming integrated with the Western market," says Katherine Shibata, Foreign Market manager at the Couromoda group, which promotes the Hospitalar.
Apart from being exhibitors, Arab businessmen will also mark their presence at the fair as buyers. Five importers from the region – two from the Emirates, one from Kuwait, one from Egypt, and one from Sudan – are going to participate in the Buyer Project.
By means of the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) and the Association of the Manufacturers of Medical and Dental Products (Abimo), the project invites potential buyers to business roundtables.
Service
Hospitalar 2008
June 10th to 13th
From 12:00 pm to 09:00 pm
Expo Center Norte
Rua José Bernardo Pinto, 333
São Paulo, Brazil
Anba
