An Arab- Southern American summit in December in Brazil

An Arab- Southern American summit in December in Brazil

The foreign minister of Brazil, Selzo Amorim, announced on Saturday that the leaders of the Arab states will be meeting with their counterparts from Southern America in Brazil in December this year. This will be in the context of an initiative to give the developing countries a higher voice in the international affairs.

Amorim said following talks in the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo that the summit will include 34 leaders and is expected to concentrate on political relations and trade, investments and technical cooperation. The summit was proposed by the President of Brazil Lula Da Silva, who proposed his initiative on the Arab leaders during his Middle East tour by the end of 2003.

Amorim said that it is almost confirmed this summit will be in the first phase of December, but "we are still in the phase of drawing a certain date. it is expected to be on the 8th and 9th of December." However, some 10 million Brazilians ( out of 175 million) are of Arab descent, including Lebanese whose number are greater than the population of Lebanon. This summit will be the first of its kind. Amorim said after that the summit will be held periodically. He said:" we feel so much in commons with the Arabs. Of course we have good relations with Israel. But we actually show our solidarity with the Arab states when we vote at the UN general Assembly and other organizations."

more...

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040510/2004051016.html