São Paulo – Brazil should develop projects for cooperation in the social area with Lebanon and Palestine. The subject was discussed early this week by the minister of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Patrus Ananias, and his Lebanese colleague, Salim Sayeg, as well as Madja Al-Masry, the minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The meetings took place in the sidelines of the second meeting of social ministers of the Arab and South American countries, in Brasília.
According to the head of the international press department at the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Gabriela Geraldes Bastos, the Lebanese Sayeg said that Brazilian social programs have admirers all over the Middle East and that his government is interested in developing a project in cooperation.
According to Gabriela, the Lebanese want to learn more about the Brazilian policies for infants and the elderly. “They already have a specific demand,” she said, adding that once the project comes true, there should be technical missions to promote the exchange of experiences. There was also an invitation for the Brazilian minister, who is of Lebanese descent, to visit Lebanon.
The PNA, in turn, is interested in learning about the Brazilian social policies in general. According to Gabriela, the procedure in this case involves the promotion of a mission to exhibit all activities that Brazil promotes in the area, so that afterwards the country may select what best fits its reality. Only then will the cooperation project be launched.
She also said that the representative of the Jordanian delegation at the ministerial meeting has shown interest in a program for cooperation regarding the Family Purse, a program for income transfer that that is the chief Brazilian government social policy.
South-South
To the assistant secretary general for Social Affairs at the League of Arab States, Sima Bahous, who participated in the meeting, events like the one in Brasília are important to place members of the top echelon of governments side by side for the exchange of experiences, making the cooperation process as a whole progress in a more consistent manner.
She believes that in future the collaboration between Arab and South American countries may result in the establishment of a file containing information regarding successful social programs, a kind of protocol of actions recommended for this kind of development.
According to Bahous, the formulation of policies for developing nations is more recommended for both regions than the adoption of strategies of countries with different realities. “It is the best means, as developing countries understand their situation better,” she said, who yesterday (4) visited the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, in São Paulo.
A defender of South-South cooperation, Sima pointed out that the Arabs and South Americans have much in common with regard to challenges in the social area, like poverty, unemployment and the need for policies turned to children, youths, the elderly and the handicapped. “We may work together to create a better future and to provide more quality of life,” she said.
Bahous also pointed out the importance of press and of information technology for the promotion of social policies, which may make possible the “construction of bridges” between different countries.
*Translated by Mark Ament
