Why Ceará?

In a global context of enormous competition for the attraction of investments, Ceará, Brazil’s seventeenth state in territorial extension, located in the so-called corner of the Atlantic Ocean, is prepared to lead the enormous challenge of receiving investments, making them economically viable, respecting the environment and the characteristics of the social and cultural formation of its population, guaranteeing the growth of companies, with inclusion and a balanced regional development.

The first step is already more than consolidated. The generation of confidence for this attraction of investments has been built for some decades with the strategy of ensuring that development policies are state policies, preventing governments from deviating from the course set to ensure the established goals. Moreover, confidence requires governance, public investments, integrated production programs, quality infrastructure, a consumer market, alliances between universities, companies, and government, care for the environment, good financing policies and benefits, clear rules, innovation, and, above all, inclusion.

Ceará, Land of Opportunities shows that Ceará responds to these demands, with a development project consolidated as a state policy, regulated by Law, foreseeing the next 30 years. It is sustainable, because Ceará is in the vanguard of green hydrogen production, attracting global giants in the energy sector with which it has already signed 24 Memorandums of Understanding to make the hub feasible, structuring a productive chain that will also boost renewable energy generation, wind and solar, a segment in which Ceará was also a pioneer and stands out today with an installed capacity of 2.5 GW in wind and 0.5GW in solar.

In geographical terms, its strategic location is another competitive differential. Very close to Europe, North Ameri- ca, Africa, and Asia, Ceará has the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex, an international level offshore terminal, which houses the only Export Processing Zone (ZPE) in Brazil, with more than 6,000 hectares for enterprises, offering tax benefits and legal security, operated in partnership with the Port of Rotterdam. Important companies in the steel, construction and energy sectors operate there.

In terms of infrastructure, Ceará is also a technological hub, with 18 transoceanic submarine cables that connect it to the world, besides having a digital belt with 140 thousand kilometers of optic fiber, launched together with private partners, distributed throughout its 184 municipalities. Ceará’s air hub moves more than 7.2 million passengers a year, attracted by business opportunities and a coastline full of natural beauty, good winds for water sports, and a culture marked by the hospitality of its people.

In the educational and training area, Ceará is recognized for having 79 of the 100 best basic education schools in Brazil, a system of higher education that is very well integrated and distributed throughout its territory, and several educational projects, as well as scientific production that stands out from the rest of Brazil.

For all these reasons, Ceará is ready to receive its new partners so that, in the words of Maia Júnior, Ceará’s Secretary of Economic Development and Labor, “they come to qualify this base of companies that produce, that generate jobs, and not only produce, but also increase the state’s wealth so that, through this wealth, they can appropriate and transfer these resources in a more inclusive way.

Enjoy reading!

Daniel Oiticica, Editor in Chief