São Paulo – Arab Foreign ministers showed, during a meeting with the Brazilian Foreign minister, Antonio Patriota, interest in developing activities for agricultural cooperation with Brazil. Patriota met with the Arab ministers and with the secretary general of the League of Arab States, Nabi El-Arabi, in New York, on Monday (26), in the sidelines of the 66th Assembly General of the United Nations (UN).
Patriota met with the foreign ministers of Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Syria and Algeria, as well as with the prime minister of the National Transitional Council of Libya, Mahmoud Jibril, and with a Moroccan representative. According to Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty) spokesperson Tovar Nunes, agricultural cooperation was among the main topics discussed.
"This topic arose in talks between several Arab countries and also nations in Asia, like Pakistan,” said Nunes in an interview to ANBA. "There is interest in exchange of specialists,” he explained. “The minister also spoke about the importance of having a Brazilian ahead of the FAO (the UN agency for Agriculture and Food). He pointed out that food safety is fundamental to guarantee peace.” The Brazilian José Graziano was elected the organisation’s president in January.
In the meetings with the foreign ministers of Algeria and the Emirates, Patriota also stressed the Brazilian desire of intensifying the strong trade exchange with those nations.
The Arab Spring and the support of Brazil to the Palestinian cause were among the other points discussed during the meeting between Patriota and the Arab ministers. "They praised president Dilma [Rousseff]’s support to Palestine,” said Nunes. "The minister also showed Brazil’s desire for the Libyan and Syrian people to have their aspirations complied with,” he said.
Regarding the meeting with El-Arabi, Nunes pointed out that it was a meeting "between friends". "The minister stressed the Brazilian desire to have the Arab League as a closer interlocutor for the events that are taking place in North Africa, in countries like Libya and Egypt. The Arab League must be called to discuss the political future of these nations,” he said.
According to the spokesperson for the Itamaraty, minister Patriota also pointed out the importance for the Arab countries to make use of this moment in which they are occupying the rotating presidency of the main organisations in the UN. Currently, the presidency of the Assembly General is in the hands of Qatar, and the Security Council, in the hands of Lebanon.
*Translated by Mark Ament
