São Paulo – Brazil, together with India and South Africa, is going to build a sports complex in Palestine. The cornerstone for the enterprise should be placed on April 27th and should include the presence of representatives of the Brazilian office in Ramallah, diplomat Ligia Maria Scherer. The initiative is of the Forum for India-Brazil-South Africa (Ibsa) Dialogue and should use money from a fund created by the group for investment in projects in other countries.
The complex should be in Ramallah and should cover an area of 1,000 square metres and receive investment of US$ 1 million, according to information disclosed by the government of Brazil. The enterprise should include areas for activities like conventional gymnastics, Olympic gymnastics, table tennis, volleyball, badminton, football and fencing. There should also be changing rooms, showers and administrative areas. Apart from financing the construction, the Ibsa should support the creation of a juvenile sports league in the Arab country.
The decision of building the complex was taken by the Ibsa during the Donors’ Conference for the Palestinian State, which took place in Paris, the French capital, in late 2007. At the time, the group agreed to donate US$ 3 million to the Arab country. Of this total, US$ 1 million should be turned to the construction of a sports centre. In the same conference, this year, in Egypt, Brazil agreed to donate US$ 10 million to aid in the reconstruction of Palestine, currently devastated by the conflict with Israel.
The Ibsa operates on three fronts. One of them is the generation of closer ties between India, Brazil and South Africa, in the legislative, executive, judicial and civil society spheres. The other is a political strategy of diplomatic coordination the three nations. There is also an Ibsa arm that offers assistance to other nations. It is in this area that the construction of the sports centre in Palestine is being developed. The fund, which brings together funds for these projects, was developed in 2004 in the scope of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The Ibsa has already developed actions in Haiti, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. In Haiti a project for solid waste collection was developed, which is already self-sustained. Through it, garbage started being transformed in small fragments to serve as firewood. In Guinea-Bissau a project in the area of agriculture and livestock was developed and in Cape Verde the Ibsa promoted the restoration of a health centre. Now, apart from Palestine, the group is studying investing in HIV projects in Burundi and in the management of water resources in Laos.
*Translated by Mark Ament
