Development that comes from group work

For almost 20 years I have participated in business association activities and I recognize their real impact, producing changes based on collective action. As I once heard from an executive, and today is the Director of AECIPP - Association of Companies in the Industrial and Port Complex of Pecém and pioneer in the effort to bring a steel mill plant to Ceará, Ricardo Parente, “alone we are faster, but together we go further”.

The creation of AECIPP is the true development of a state government initiative, which, after 10 years, shows that it is no longer just an idea on paper. The Industrial and Port Complex of Pecém gathers important economic and social development vectors and whose impacts must be closely monitored and shared, between government, private sector and other key stakeholders. The companies installed in the Complex currently possess the volume of human, financial and technological resources, key for the discussion of the future of this industrial complex’s regional influence.

15 years ago, when I helped to found the Brazil-Portugal Chamber of Commerce in Ceará, I was a witness to what an association is capable of doing to catalyze common interests. It is no wonder that today there are more than 1000 companies in Ceará backed by Portuguese capital.

About 2 years ago, when I was invited by Energia Pecém SA and Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém to provide legal assistance for the creation of AECIPP, through the help of my law office, I recognized that I would be helping to constitute a legitimate business association that will sit down at the table with other stakeholders who are constantly thinking about the development of Ceará. After all, the group of companies that founded AECIPP comprise a significant part of the State’s industrial GDP. Before their formal constitution, 15 companies had time to mature the entity's ideology and, having their statutes registered at a registry office at the end of last year. Starting in the right direction with a clear mission, values ​​and vision.

Environmental and natural resources, security, employment and infrastructure are frequent and overarching issues that, in order to present more efficient results, demand collective solutions. By acting through an entity that represents their interests, the companies that comprise the Industrial and Port Complex of Pecém can overcome challenges that affect its installation and operation with less individual burden. Issues such as securitization of operational risk, demand for inputs, disposal of industrial waste are all issues that do not allow for isolated solutions, given their cumulative impacts. For this reason, by playing a strategic role for its members, the entity will be able to do even more for the society to which it is part of and, thus, play a decisive role for such desired sustainable action.

Long Live AECIPP!

Autor: 
Rômulo Alexandre Soares – Partner of the Albuquerque Pinto Advogados Law Office