São Paulo – The Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty) promoted a meeting in Brasília to debate relation with Libya last week. The event took place on the eve of ambassador Afonso Carbonar taking over Brazil’s diplomatic office in Tripoli. The meeting received 65 people, among them representatives of government organisations, companies and other institutions, like the CEO of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby.
According to Alaby, the Political undersecretary general at the Itamaraty for the Middle East and Africa, Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto, said that there is great mutual interest of the countries in developing economic relations. The Brazilian embassy in Tripoli has already been reopened.
Carbonar plans to be inaugurated in September and should define a work schedule for the end of the year, including the possible hosting of delegations promoted by the government of Brazil and companies. On Saturday (7) the country will promote its first parliamentary elections after over 40 years of the Muamar Kadafi regime.
Ambassador Cesário Melantônio, Brazil’s representative for Middle East affairs, pointed out that, apart from trade relations, the government of Brazil may support Libya in areas like the control of armaments. Other areas of potential collaboration are food safety and income transfer programmes.
According to Alaby, economist José Carlos de Assis, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), stated that Libya has the world’s seventh main oil reserves, a population of six million people and, before the conflict last year, had a high Human Development Index (HDI).
The scholar added that the country currently has serious challenges, like disarming land mines, fighting unemployment, promoting education and the health system, developing the Judiciary and rebuilding its infrastructure.
*Translated by Mark Ament
