What comes to mind when you think of exporting and international trade? Probably, packed goods, shipping containers, harbours, customs – but did you know that services can also be subject of exports, including M&E services? According to the latest data gathered by the World Bank, in 2018, services accounted for roughly 24% of international trade – or US$ 5.9 trillion in absolute numbers.
Since 2011, Plan Eval has been providing M&E services for organisations all over the world. The first experiences were obtained through projects carried out along with private firms and NGOs based in countries such as Switzerland and the USA. Since then, our global client portfolio has been growing, mainly through agreements with cooperation agencies and international organisations – especially within the United Nations system, wherein we had the honour of evaluating country programmes implemented in the Caribbean and in Africa.
However, exporting might be quite a tricky task depending on the legislation of the country your business is based in – not to mention global events which cause macroeconomic instability, such as pandemics or trade tensions between countries, which might pose challenges to your operations. That is why one always needs to pursue knowledge and continuous improvement in order to avoid, or at least mitigate, risks which might jeopardise your strategic planning.
In 2019, Plan Eval’s head office in São Paulo was tutored through the Exports Training Programme (PEIEX), an initiative supported by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) and the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE). The programme aims to enhance the exporting capabilities of Brazilian companies.
Over the course of the meetings, certain topics, such as export planning, legal obligations, international contracting, exchange rate, and so forth, were presented. As for the legal obligations, one of the discussed points was the implementation of the SIRCOSERV system, an online platform launched in 2011 whereby Brazilian companies input data and information about their service operations abroad. Apart from auditing purposes, the platform is also meant to provide policy makers with accurate and relevant data which might be useful to formulate, implement and evaluate international trade-oriented economic policies.
This is only one of the steps taken by Plan Eval towards its internationalization: our contribution as a global company to the M&E industry has been also boosted by our commercial presence in Belgium as of 2016, thanks to the support from the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX), as well as from our clients based in several countries who have been contracting our services through our subsidiary located in the de facto capital of the European Union.
Sources:
Ministério da Economia: O Siscoserv: http://www.mdic.gov.br/index.php/comercio-servicos/a-secretaria-de-comercio-e-servicos-scs-15
Apex Brasil – Quem Somos: https://portal.apexbrasil.com.br/quem-somos/
World Bank – Exports of goods and services: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.EXP.GNFS.CD?end=2018&start=1960&view=chart
World Bank – Service Exports – https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.GSR.NFSV.CD?end=2018&most_recent_value_desc=true&start=1960&view=chart&year=2018