São Paulo – An international debate on the relations of Latin America and the Middle East will take place in Lebanon in November this year. The meeting should bring together researchers and specialists from both regions at Saint-Esprit de Kaslik University (Usek), in Kaslik, on the 29th and 30th, to discuss the economic, diplomatic, cultural and political ties of both regions, which are developing and aspire greater participation in the international scenery.
The initiative is by the Centre for Latin American Studies and Cultures (Cecal) at Usek and, according to the institution’s director, Roberto Khatlab, speakers are being selected from countries like Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon itself, among others. The programme including the name of the speakers, will only be disclosed in October, according to the Khatlab.
Apart from the Cecal, the event should also include the Centre for Studies for Development of Peace (CDPR), connected to the School of Philosophy and Human Science at Usek, and the Interdisciplinary Research Network on the Arab World and Latin America (Rimaal), of France. “Our objective is to improve relations between the Middle East and Latin America, with the support of the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa),” says Khatlab. The first edition of the Aspa took place in 2005, bringing the leaders of both regions closer together.
Talks at Usek will take place in three main axes. The first is diplomacy, with analysis of Brazil as an emerging power, speaking in the name of a progressive and global South, and of other players like Venezuela and Iran, with diplomacy qualified as contestatory, with alternative discourse about intercontinental relations.
The second axis of the talks will be trade, matching economic questions with agreements for cultural and political exchange. The third point of discussion will be about the measurement of the policies of countries in development regarding matters like the crisis of the Middle East and of the Islamic World.
“At a critical moment for the history of the Middle East due to the multiple revolutions the region is living in the ‘Arab Spring’, the Cecal and CDPR consider this the right moment for association into a transnational network of researchers, Rimaal, whose objective are questioning the determinants of closer ties between both regions and how long-lasting the movement is,” says the Rimaal site on the meeting.
"If these intercontinental relations participate in the current restructuring of the world order, the point in question will be determining to what extent they reveal the formulation of a new vision regarding international relations of emerging diplomacies in Latin America and what manoeuvring margins these countries will have in global governance after the establishment of new South-South interaction," it finishes off.
Service
Colloquium on Latin American and the Middle East
November 29th and 30th, 2012
Site: Saint Esprit de Kaslik University (Usek), Kaslik, Lebanon
Site: http://rimaal.org/
E-mail: robertokhatlab@usek.edu.lb
*Translated by Mark Ament
