International Trade Hub at SeaPort Manatee inaugurates Brazilian high-tech center

The International Trade Hub at SeaPort Manatee is now home to a center for advancement of high-technology-focused commerce with Brazil.

The Oxford Brazilian Hub was inaugurated during the Brazilian Trade Summit held Oct. 17 at the trade hub on the campus of SeaPort Manatee. Opening of the Oxford Brazilian Hub builds upon the partnership formed in July with Oxford Group Inc., a venerable trade consultancy that has moved its corporate headquarters to SeaPort Manatee from Boca Raton, Florida.

“The success of the Brazilian Trade Summit and the ribbon-cutting for the Oxford Brazilian Hub underscore a shared commitment to nurturing dynamic opportunities for furthering high-tech-oriented commerce between Florida and the state’s top trade partner, Brazil,” said Roxana Santoyo, manager of the International Trade Hub at SeaPort Manatee, which, since its founding in 2014, has furnished a vital link between markets in Florida and throughout the world.

Ambassador André Odenbreit Carvalho, Brazil’s Miami-based consul general, and Cristiano Berbert, deputy consul general, were among participants in the Brazilian Trade Summit, which brought together representatives of numerous Brazilian companies and such leaders of Florida global trade and education as Fabio Yukio Yamada, Brazil representative for SelectFlorida (formerly Enterprise Florida), and Joni Jones, campus dean for the Sarasota-Manatee campus of the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business.

“With several Brazilian technology companies establishing presences at the trade hub plus agreements signed with such prominent entities as Northeast Brazil’s State of Pernambuco, the Oxford Brazilian Hub is emerging as a key strategic facilitator of entrepreneurial commerce in sectors ranging from artificial intelligence to digital product development to cybersecurity,” said Carlo Barbieri, president and chief executive officer of the Oxford Group, who brings more than half a century of global experience to the initiative.

Headquartered at the SeaPort Manatee International Center, with overseas offices in Colombia, Chile and Spain, the International Trade Hub at SeaPort Manatee provides expert advice and support tools to scores of diverse companies, assisting them with production, distribution and related activities, including development of innovative technologies and supply chain solutions.