In Patrícia Garcia da Rosa’s view, the main barrier to increasing exchange is the lack of knowledge

By Silvia Pimentel

Consolidate the presence of the CCBC (Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada) in Canada through expansion to other provinces, expanding the member base beyond Québec and Alberta, and reinforce the partnership with the BCCC (Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce), a chamber of Canadian origin with whom the CCBC has strengthened relations in recent years. These are some of the priorities of the new CCBC commercial consultant director in Canada, Patrícia Garcia da Rosa, and which meet the objectives established by the board, especially after the approval of the new Chambre statute in Canada.

According to Garcia da Rosa, there are several areas and sectors in full development in both countries that involve large investments and various business opportunities. Both for Brazilian companies that want to invest in Canada and for Canadian companies that want to come to Brazil.

It highlights the areas of Mining, still with a lot of room for growth, Agriculture and everything that involves Agri-Tech, Energy, not only traditional ones, such as oil and gas, but mainly Renewable Energies, Green Energy and Clean Tech, Innovation and AI and Machine Learning technology and, obviously, Software, Health and Science.

Regarding the work carried out to increase the number of Brazilian companies traveling to Canada and vice versa, Garcia da Rosa says that it will not be an easy task. “Unfortunately, despite the vast potential that both countries offer, there is a huge lack of knowledge about these potentials,” she says. Furthermore, not only physically, but in the imagination of entrepreneurs, the United States is in the middle. “They are the first commercial partner of both Brazil and Canada”, she highlights.

Pilot market

For CCBC’s new commercial director, it is necessary to show that, for a Brazilian company to enter the North American market, it makes much more sense to access this market from Canada, as well as first testing its product in a very similar market to the American, it is the only G7 country that has a free trade agreement with the other six countries.

“It is the country with the most bilateral free trade agreements in the world. So, if a company wants to access Chile, it is easier to export from Canada, which has a bilateral free trade agreement with Chile, than to export from Brazil,” she explained. Canada is, therefore, a strategic country for the internationalization process of any company and with a lower operating cost that can reach 30%, when compared to the United States, calculates the executive.

According to her, to reduce the level of ignorance of its potential, one of the works carried out has been to show the similarities with Brazil, such as the way of doing business, within a solid legal structure, and with practically the same time zone. “The biggest barrier, then, is the lack of knowledge and myths that are created, which need to be dismantled,” she said.