São Paulo – The Brazilian minister of Foreign Relations, Antonio Patriota, offered Brazilian experience to help Tunisia, an Arab country in North Africa, in its transition to democracy and in economic and social development. The foreign minister met with Tunisian authorities on Wednesday (25), in Tunis, with whom he discussed the Brazilian disposition to closer ties with the country. The Brazilian minister went on a tour around Africa and has already visited Ethiopia. He will also visit Mauritania, another Arab nation.
According to information disclosed by the Itamaraty, Patriota was very well received in Tunisia, where he met president Moncef Marzouki, the acting prime minister, Hamedi Jebali, Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem, and the president of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, Mustapha Bem Jaafar. According to the Foreign Ministry, one of the themes discussed was the Brazilian experience in social inclusion and the possibility of Brazil collaborating with Tunisia and the Maghreb, the region of which the country is part, in the area.
According to information disclosed by the Tunisian News Agency (TAP), Patriota said to Marzouki that Brazil, with its experience, may help Tunisia in its transition to democracy. The country lived a coup, in the 1960s, and was under a military regime for 20 years. The Brazilian foreign minister also said he hopes for Brazilian investment in the Arab country to be multiplied now that the local environment is favourable. He also invited the president to participate in the Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, to take place in Brazil, in June.
Still according to TAP, with Jebali, the minister also discussed the possible cooperation in several areas, mainly in agriculture and social policies. He also welcomed “a nation that treads its own path towards democracy and social progress” and where “conditions are met for the establishment of closer ties between our two governments and societies,” says the TAP article. With Abdessalem, he also spoke about the strengthening of ties between Brazil and Tunisia and developing countries in general.
Both ministers agreed on the promotion of a meeting of the Brazil-Tunisia Mixed Committee, in September this year. Patriota was also invited to observe the Maghreb Summit, to take place in Tunisia in the second week of October.
*Translated by Mark Ament
