Isaura Daniel
São Paulo – While heads of state meet at the Summit between Arab and South American countries, on May 10 and 11 next year, in Brasília, businessmen from both regions may discuss reciprocal investment. In parallel to the summit between leaders, there will be an investment fair.
Each one of the 12 South American countries and 22 Arab countries will have a stand to present their main projects. "If Chile plans to find foreign funds in the fishery area, for example, the country will present projects in the area," explained the head of the cabinet of the General Policy sub-secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ernesto Rubarth. The sectors Brazil is going to present have not yet been defined.
Foreign investment, in reality, had already been defined as one of the main priorities of the Summit. The fair will be part of a greater programme turned to businessmen, and it will also include seminars with talks by Arab and South American specialists in the area of foreign trade.
According to Rubarth, the governments of both countries should bring their delegations of bankers and investors, as well as diplomats. The premises in the Brazilian capital for the summit have not yet been defined.
Declaration
Although there are still seven months before the meeting, formulation of the summit declaration, a document that is presented at the end of meetings of this kind, as a consensus between the countries involved, is already being prepared.
The preparatory committee, a team created to produce the declaration, had its first formal meeting on October 30 and 31, in Egyptian capital Cairo, to discuss the theme. According to Rubarth, the document is going to deal with political, economic and social questions.
The project under discussion must still receive final approval and modifications, and will include topics of interest to both regions, ranging from cooperation in water resources to the intention of strengthening multilateral relations, of establishing actions against hunger and poverty, and of working together in international groups like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
According to Rubarth, other topics under discussion are the proposal for creation of a basic library with translations of Arab and South American books into the languages spoken in both blocs and how the group is going to proceed with the relations started at the summit.
Brazil, as the host and country that proposed the summit, presented a first project for the declaration during a meeting between foreign ministers that took place at the end of September in New York.
Next meetings
The discussions, however, are still under way. They will continue at meetings between the committee on December 8 and 10, in New York, and in February, in Cairo.
In December, policy questions should be discussed, and in February, social and economical matters. According to Rubarth, the Arab countries requested that the economic and social discussion only take place after a meeting between the economic and social council of the League of Arab States to take place in January.
The head of the Brazilian commission in the preparatory committee is the general policy sub-secretary at the Itamaraty, the Brazilian Foreign Office, Vera Pedrosa. In the last meeting in Cairo, the Brazilian delegation took six diplomats, among them the sub-secretariat head of cabinet, Rubarth.
The declaration will only be completed after approval by the heads of state, which should take place after the meeting between foreign affairs ministers from each country, forecasted for March 25 and 26 next year, in Marrakech, Morocco.
The summit is an initiative by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Since he was inaugurated as Brazilian president, Lula has been defending closer commercial ties between Brazil and the Arab countries. This is so true that bilateral trade with the region has been rising. It should reach US$ 6.6 billion by the end of the year, against US$ 5.4 billion in 2003.
President Lula selected Brasília as the location for the summit. Up to the end of September, other possible cities were São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, both in southeastern Brazil. According to Rubarth, 2,000 people should participate in the meeting.
