Minas Gerais Agency | Government of Minas promotes event to strengthen Minas Gerais foreign trade

With the theme “Exploring borders: Special Customs Regimes and Opportunities for Industry Growth”, the Government of Minas, through the State Secretariat for Economic Development (Headquarters-MG), held a seminar that covered legal, tax and operational aspects of special customs regimes for the productive sectors of Minas Gerais.

The event took place this Thursday, at the JK Auditorium, in the Administrative City, in Belo Horizonte, in partnership with members of the Working Group to Promote Foreign Trade in Minas Gerais (GTComex).

The seminar consisted of six panels aimed at training Minas Gerais companies on the types of customs regimes and their potential benefits for the export of products, as well as to publicize and expand internationalization opportunities.

In addition to the lectures, the action included the presentation of financing lines for small, medium and large companies.

According to the Secretary of State for Economic Development, Fernando Passalio, there needs to be a connection between GTComex bodies for Minas to achieve ideal market behavior so that the business environment and the internationalization of Minas Gerais’ productive sectors continue to advance.

“The importance of this action is precisely to advance issues like these and create important connections. Certainly, iron ore and coffee figure as anchors in Minas Gerais’ export agenda, however, there is enormous potential for other inputs to also stand out”, says Passalio.

For the secretary, the joint initiative reinforces the intention of the Government of Minas to encourage more and more companies and responsible bodies so that the demands of foreign trade are effectively explored. “All of this leads to greater economic development and, in turn, more job and income generation”, he adds.

The Secretary of State for Finance (SEF/MG), Luiz Claudio Gomes, also highlighted the role played by the department in the State’s export and import processes and highlighted the importance of the initiative.

“The Government of Minas, through the Treasury, contributes by bringing legal and tax security through information and meetings like this. As an example of delivering simplification and ease, we recently revised the ICMS code, which had not been revised for 20 years. We make a lot of effort to bring together and provide, together with the taxpayer, all the necessary information so that they do not create liabilities, but rather, so that they have ease and understanding”, explains the Finance Secretary.

On this occasion, the institutions that make up GTComex presented existing initiatives and opportunities for companies to increase their export and import operations, making it possible to explore new markets.

National highlight

In terms of national foreign trade, Minas stands out in exports and imports. The state is the 3rd main exporter, in terms of values, representing 11.8% of Brazilian shipments, and the 5th main importer, responsible for 6.4% of national purchases.

With the seminar, the Government of Minas seeks to coordinate with customs authorities to improve dispatch and customs clearance processes in the state.

GT Comex

GTComex was established by the Directorate of Export Promotion and Foreign Trade of Headquarters-MG, and functions as a qualified technical forum, being formed by 17 public and private institutions and departments that are members and representative of the State’s foreign trade agenda.

Its purpose is to map existing structuring bottlenecks in Minas Gerais’ foreign trade and build initiatives and public policies to be implemented for the development and strengthening of foreign trade in the state.