Leigh Miller for GlobalAtlanta
Atlanta-based Hemisphere Inc. and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce are hosting a seminar for Brazil’s burgeoning business community on Thursday, Aug. 17, in Curitiba, Brazil, to promote Georgia as a hemispheric business hub.
Hemisphere Inc. Executive Director Jose Ignacio Gonzalez and Metro Atlanta Chamber Vice President of Global Commerce Jorge Fernandez are teaming up with Georgia’s trade office in Sao Paulo and the U.S. consulate there to put on the seminar for more than 100 invited Brazilian businesspersons.
“Brazil’s economy is one of the fastest growing in the world, and we want to attract Brazilian industry to Atlanta,” Mr. Fernandez told GlobalAtlanta.
He added that Delta Air Lines Inc.’s direct flights to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, make Atlanta attractive to Brazilian companies.
“That’s what businesses want is direct access. It’s one of their first considerations when relocating or expanding,” said Mr. Fernandez, who was formerly Delta’s international and alliances vice president.
He also said that Atlanta’s “human assets,” cultivated by its universities, and its research centers, logistics infrastructure, expanding markets and low cost of doing business and living, were topics he and the Atlanta team would emphasize to Brazilians.
Some 100 companies, government representatives and industry associations are to attend the seminar in Curitiba, according to Mariana Falkenberger, trade representative in Georgia’s Brazil office who is helping to organize the event.
The Federation of Industries of Parana, a business association in the Brazilian state of Parana where Curitiba is located, is hosting the event at its convention center.
During the seminar, Mr. Gonzalez is to lead the presentation, “Georgia — Your Port of Entry to the United States,” highlighting Georgia’s advantages for foreign investors.
The president of the Parana federation, Rodrigo Rocha Loures, is to give a presentation on investing in his state. U.S. consul general in Sao Paulo Christopher McMullen and U.S. Commercial Service officers James Cramer and Frank Carrico are also to attend the seminar. Renato Sabaine, U.S. Commercial Service trade event manager, is to give a presentation on that office’s services for businesses.
Daniel Pinho, an official at PNC Bank in Brazil, is to talk about long-term financing options to import U.S. goods and services.
Contact Hemisphere Inc. at (404) 962-4834 or the Metro Atlanta chamber at (404) 586-8474 for more information. Contact Georgia’s Brazil office at + 55 11 5180-3630.