Latin leanings
Closer Arab-Latin American ties will benefit all involved, reports Dina Ezzat
Last week's visit to the region by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, widely known as 'Lula', seems to have generated an unprecedented interest in intensifying cooperation between developing countries. The president's eight- day tour prompted new thinking about the opportunities to be reaped from closer Arab-Latin American ties.
"This is certainly a very important visit which indicates a clear interest in cooperation with the Arab world. This is no surprise; Brazil has traditionally demonstrated a positive stance concerning the Arab world and President Lula has very impressive ideas about South-South cooperation and more equitable South-North relations," said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Moussa was speaking at a press conference following extensive talks with Lula at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League last week. "This is the first visit by a Brazilian president to the Arab League, which is an indication of the genuine interest demonstrated in forging closer ties with the Arab world," Moussa added.
Lula's visit to the league came as part of the third leg of his Arab tour which included Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Libya. While in Cairo, da Silva met with Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath.
"I am here to tell you that we could build unprecedented and very successful Latin-Arab relations," da Silva said in a 20-minute speech that he delivered before ministers and representatives from the 22 members of the Arab League. "We are convinced that the potential for cooperation is great."
The cooperation suggested by Lula covers a wide range of concerns for Third World countries, including the improvement of trade and economic ties. "Today, total Arab exports to Brazil stand at no more than 1.5 per cent of total Arab exports," da Silva pointed out. And as Arab officials admit, the rate is not much better when it comes to other key Latin countries.
On both the Arab and Latin sides there is an awareness of the huge economic potential of greater cooperation. On the eve of his Arab tour, da Silva, who was participating in the G-20 meeting, argued the need for a wider economic collaboration among Third World countries. "Developing countries have to worry about hunger and poverty. Meanwhile, they stand there waiting for a sign from the US and the European Union to pursue economic cooperation. They had better pursue economic cooperation between each other," he said.
President Lula stressed, however, that he is not promoting either exclusion of or confrontation with developed countries. Rather, he is advocating more equitable relations.
In his talks with Arab heads of states, da Silva concentrated on economic cooperation between Arab countries, which are now working to establish their own Free Trade Area, and Mercosur, the four--nation South American trade bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The ideas were welcomed with interest from Arab countries. During his tour, on which he was accompanied by high-level representatives of Mercosur, da Silva witnessed the signing of a number of economic cooperation agreements. President Lula also discussed the potential benefits of initiating direct flights and cargo shipments between Brazil and the Arab states he visited.
It is, however, da Silva's call for "a new way to do politics", both among Southern countries and between the South and North, that merits careful consideration from the Arab officials with whom he met. According to the Brazilian president, there is a need for a new approach towards inter-South political coordination. This approach should include the representation of the South in the UN Security Council "to make sure that the UN works in a democratic way", as well as adjusting the present imbalance of political power that, if left unchecked, could further endanger the interests of developing countries.
Brazil is in fact seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and President da Silva has already visited African countries to discuss the issue.
It was in Tripoli that da Silva's ideas on a new mechanism for South-South cooperation were given the highest acclaim. Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, an outspoken critic of 'Western imperialism', expressed enthusiasm for "a Latin- African Union that could stand in the face of imperialism".
"The representation of the South's viewpoint in the UN is an important issue to which Brazil is making an obvious contribution and in which the Arab world is interested," said Moussa. However, according to the secretary-general of the Arab League, who also sits on a high-level UN committee looking into ways to reform the UN, "the proposed ideas still require more crystalisation".
Reforming the UN is one of the issues that Moussa is expected to discuss with da Silva at a meeting scheduled to take place in the Brazilian capital Brasilia next April. Moussa will be visiting Brazil in what is expected to be a Latin America tour that could also include Argentina and Venezuela.
The trip would be a precursor for an Arab-Latin summit that da Silva proposed should take place in Brazil in September 2004. Although Arab diplomatic sources could not confirm the summit will definitely go forward, the fact that it is scheduled just days before the UN General Assembly convenes in New York is propitious. "[This] would make it easy for the Arab delegations that will cross the Atlantic anyway to travel a few more hours in pursuit of real economic and other opportunities," said one Arab official.
The exchange of visits and meetings between Brazil and the Arab countries may take many forms but, according to Arab and Brazilian sources, they are just the beginning.
An important catalyst for this growing mutual interest is a very large Arab-Brazilian community. "In my country there are over ten million people who are of Arab origin and who have been maintaining their ties with their mother civilisation," da Silva said in his speech at the Arab League.
For Rehab Qanawati, head of the Arab Immigrants Department at the Arab League, it is this large and well- established Arab-Brazilian community that could serve as a link between the Arab world and Brazil. "It is not just with Brazil but with other Latin American countries where there are large Arab communities that we could be building bridges," she said.
Last month, an Arab envoy spent three weeks in Latin America -- mainly Brazil -- to explore such a possibility. The envoy reported "a high level of interest from the communities of Arab origin to enforce ties with their countries of origin".
"We are going to pursue this interest and we are considering an Arab-Latin America cooperation conference for 2005," said Qanawati. She argued that the first US-Arab cooperation conference last September in Detroit generated interest within Arab communities elsewhere in the world to re-enforce their relations with the Arab world.
With close to ten million citizens of Arab origin, 13 Arab embassies and an enthusiastic Brazilian president, as well as observer status at the Arab League, Brazil could easily serve as the focal point for an active Arab-Latin American relationship.
