São Paulo – Arab and African ambassadors will go on a joint mission to Salvador, Bahia (pictured above) with support from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. The diplomats will sit down with local and state government officials as well as private sector players.
“Bahia as a whole and Salvador in particular have a very special meaning for Arabs and Africans,” the dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brazil and Palestine ambassador Ibrahim Alzeben told ANBA. “It’s mystical and historic,” he went on.
According to Alzeben, the word “Bahia” means “splendorous” in Arabic. “Bahia is the birthplace of Arab, Islamic and African history in Brazil,” he asserted. “We believe that this visit is a way for us to revisit the roots of African and Arab history in Brazil,” he said.
This is the second trip taken by the councils of Arab and African ambassadors together. October of last year saw them go to Recife, Pernambuco. “Virtually half of the Arab world is also African. We have shared historical, geographical and geopolitical questions, and this is conducive to activities like this one,” said Alzeben.
On Tuesday (19), the diplomats will meet with Bahia vice governor João Leão and with Salvador mayor Antonio Carlos Magalhães Neto. They will also visit Casa de Angola (the House of Angola), a cultural promotion space set in Salvador’s old town.
On Wednesday (20), the ambassadors will meet with executives at the Federation of Industries of the State of Bahia (FIEB) and pay a visit to the state’s Public Archive.
“They will learn about the state’s potential,” said Arab Chamber CEO Michel Alaby, who will join the delegation alongside the Chamber’s president Rubens Hannun. “The export and import opportunities, tourism and the Islamic and African culture which are present in the state of Bahia,” he asserted.
Alzeben also said Bahia is very important to the economy of Northeast Brazil and of Brazil as a whole. “We will strive to build ties that are fruitful for Arabs, Africans and Brazil alike,” he said.
This will be the second visit of the Council of Arab Ambassadors to Bahia. The first one took place in 2013.
On the Arab side, besides Alzeben, the delegation will include the ambassadors of Kuwait, Jordan, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Sudan and the League of Arab States. Participating African diplomats hail from Cameroon, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Botswana, Cape Verde, Mali, Namibia, Malawi, Ghana, Togo and Tanzania.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
