São Paulo – Former Brazilian president Michel Temer, whose parents were born in Lebanon, led a humanitarian mission from Brazil to Lebanon last week. An Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) webinar next Monday (24) at 10 am will see him discuss the trip. The event is free of charge and registration is available. Simultaneous translation into English and Arabic will be available.
Temer and his entourage left from São Paulo on the 12th on board two Brazilian Air Force planes carrying six tons of food, medication and medical equipment. Temer met with Lebanon’s president Michel Aoun, whom he told that another 4,000 tons of rice are en route in a ship, and that another 20 tons have been collected. A huge blast at the Port of Beirut claimed 181 lives, leaving 6,000 injured and 300,000 homeless.
The webinar “Brazil-Lebanon: A conversation about the future with Michel Temer” will see the ex-VP discuss the next steps in humanitarian aid from the Arab-Brazilian community to Lebanon, which is struggling with the aftermath of the blast, a new spike in Covid-19 cases, and a political and economic crisis.
“The fact that a delegation was led by a Lebanese-descendant former president is very important. It is a display of where Brazil stands. They are getting lots of donations, but Brazil is on the other side of the world from Lebanon, so this step is extremely important, not so much for the value of the actual donations, but because it is a token of connection, of comprehension, of valuing the Lebanese community in Brazil. In Brazil we have the biggest Lebanese and Arab diaspora in the world,” ABCC president Rubens Hannun said.
He said Temer will look back on what he saw in Beirut, the conversations he had, and the continuation of the aid provision work. “He will also be speaking directly with the community. This webinar will be really important to the community. It will be open to questions,” he said.
The event is being hosted by the Lebanese-Brazilian Community’s Hunanitarian Aid Group. Featured speakers will be Lebanon’s ambassador to Brazil, Joseph Sayah; ABCC president Rubens Hannun; Brazil-Lebanon Chamber of Commerce president Alfredo Cotait Neto; Fambras Halal president Mohamed Zoghbi; Instituto Kanoun president Ricardo Maluf; Lebanese-Brazilian Medical Association president Robert Sami Nemer; and Brazil-Lebanon Chamber of Commerce secretary-general Guilherme Mattar. The webinar will be moderated by ABCC secretary-general and CEO Tamer Mansour.
Quick facts
Webinar “Brazil-Lebanon: A conversation about the future with Michel Temer”
August 24, 10 am
Free of charge
Registration available
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
