São Paulo – The Marketing vice president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Riad Younes, was one of the people honored in the closing ceremony of the 4th Lebanese Diaspora Energy conference, which ran from May 4 to 6 in Beirut. The event’s purpose is to rekindle Lebanon’s ties with communities of natives and descendants living abroad, especially as pertains to business.
“It was an acknowledgement of services rendered to the Arab community in Brazil as well as in the Arab countries,” said Younes, who accepted a trophy from the Lebanese minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Gebran Bassil.
In the past edition held in November 2016 in São Paulo, Younes moderated a panel of success stories involving the Lebanese community, including his own. A native of Lebanon, he arrived in Brazil in 1976 as a refugee fleeing civil war in his country. He completed a degree in Medicine from the University of São Paulo (USP) and grew to be one of the country’s foremost oncologists.
Besides representing the Arab Brazilian Chamber at the conference, Younes, who’s also director-general at the Oncology Center of São Paulo’s Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz, sat down for meetings on healthcare. He is part of an effort to establish the Lebanese-Brazilian Medical Association, designed to encourage bilateral cooperation.
According to him, over 3,000 people registered for the diaspora conference, which saw massive attendance of Brazilians of Lebanese descent. “There were roughly 300 people from Brazil; it was the biggest delegation,” he noted.
Much of debate revolved around the fostering of trade and mutual investments between Lebanon, its neighboring countries, and nations that are home to major Lebanese communities, such as Brazil.
Other Brazilian citizens were also honored, including the president of the Federation of Muslim Associations in Brazil (Fambras), Mohamed El Zoghbi, and oncologist physician Fernando Maluf.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
