The EDGE Group, a major Emirati defence conglomerate, is expanding its global reach by opening its first international office in Brazil, with the aim of tapping into the promising Latin American defence market. The EDGE LATAM regional office is set to open soon in Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil, according to the company’s announcement at the LAAD Defence & Security 2023 show in Rio de Janeiro. At the same event, EDGE and 10 of its subsidiaries participated in the largest defence expo in Latin America for the first time.
Mansour AlMulla, Managing Director and CEO of EDGE expressed his confidence in the valuable opportunities presented by the Latin American markets for international business development, knowledge sharing, and greater prosperity. In addition to the new office, EDGE also signed two defence agreements with Brazilian firms Condor and SIATT to explore cooperation in non-lethal technologies and smart weapons systems.
According to EDGE’s statement, the Memorandum of Understanding with Condor aims to combine the company’s capabilities and assess the viability and feasibility of jointly identifying and implementing business opportunities across the UAE and Brazilian markets. Meanwhile, the MoU with SIATT focuses specifically on business opportunities in the smart weapons domain. Ryan Bohl, senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at the risk intelligence consultancy RANE Network, noted that the move is part of EDGE’s “bigger drive to grow their market share” and pointed out that South America represents a region of “relatively low political risk.”
Bohl further stated that Latin America has yet to become a region of heightened great power competition and/or the target of US sanctions campaigns in a bid to reshape the region’s geopolitics. With the opening of its new regional office and partnership agreements with Brazilian firms, EDGE is poised to establish a stronger foothold in the Latin American defence market and contribute to the growth and development of the region.
