Between February 17th and 21st, AEP – the Portuguese Business Association – and 21 national companies will be at the Gulfood 2019 Fair, the largest in the Middle East and one of the most important worldwide for the food sector.
AEP's participation in this 24th edition of the Gulfood Fair is part of the BOW – Business on the Way program and is the second initiative carried out this year in this market, after the Arab Health fair (medical-hospital sector), which took place in January.
Gulfood 2019, which features 21 Portuguese companies from the food and beverage sectors, was visited by the Secretary of State for Internationalization, Eurico Brilhante Dias, who attended the opening of the event and the AEP delegation.
According to Paulo Nunes de Almeida, president of AEP, “ the Middle Eastern markets are important for Portuguese companies that want to expand. Traditionally, they are import markets with which the Portuguese can easily establish relationships. In 2018, Gulfood received around 100 professional visitors from 185 countries, and the results for the Portuguese companies that were present were positive .”
Currently, the food sector in the United Arab Emirates exceeds seven billion dollars annually. It is estimated that, by 2020, this market could reach 50 billion dollars, with 90% of this value corresponding to imported products.
The companies that make up the AEP delegation are Ano 2000, AZCOA – Azeites do Coa, Azinor, Binómio – Produtos Alimentares, Cerealis, Choconasa, Cister, DacsAtlantic, Diatosta, Maçarico, Mendes Gonçalves, Novarroz, Quinta de Jugais, Sabores das Quinas, Valente Marques, Vieira de Castro, Bicafé, Águas do Alardo and Vhumana.
The BOW – Business on the Way program is developed by AEP Internacional within the framework of Portugal 2020 and Compete 2020. In 2019, AEP has an ambitious program for the internationalization of Portuguese companies, with planned trade missions and participation in trade fairs in 46 countries. As part of this initiative, in 2018, actions were developed in 22 international trade fairs, 15 business missions and five reverse missions, in which approximately 300 companies participated.
