Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – As a follow through of the visit president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took to Lebanon at the beginning of December, his Lebanese counterpart, Emile Lahoud, will be landing in Brasília today (16) with the objective of intensifying political and economic relations between both countries.
The agenda had not yet been completely defined up to the end of Friday, but according to diplomatic sources, Lahoud will have a private meeting with president Lula on Tuesday (17) morning. One of the topics to be discussed between both presidents is the summit between South American an Arab heads of state, programmed for the second half of this year.
Brazilian president Lula thought up the summit last year, and the first preparatory meeting took place in Geneva (Switzerland) on January 30. It was presided by Brazilian foreign relations minister Celso Amorim, and counted on the participation of representatives from most countries involved.
After the meeting with president Lula, there will be a business meeting between the Lebanese delegation and Brazilian government representatives, followed by a ceremony for the signing of decrees. Cooperation accords will be negotiated in the technical, education, cultural, and commercial areas.
The Lebanese president will be busy for the rest of the day. After a lunch offered by the Brazilian foreign office (Itamaraty), Lahoud will be making courtesy visits to the presidents of the Congress, senator José Sarney, and of the House of Representatives, João Paulo Cunha.
At the end of the day he will be meeting Arab country ambassadors in Brasília and will participate in a dinner offered by the Arab community and by the ambassador of his country, Fouad El Khoury. On Wednesday (18) Lahoud will be in the southeastern state of São Paulo, where he will meet state governor Geraldo Alckmin.
Trade
Although Brazil has a large Arab colony, around 6 million Lebanese and their descendents, a population that is greater than that of Lebanon itself – around 4 million -, trade relations between both countries are still small.
Last year, Brazil exported the equivalent to US$ 54.8 million in products to Lebanon. The main items in the trade basket were cattle beef (raw and industrialized), green coffee, cashew nuts, kraft paper, and cars. On the other hand, product import totalled US$ 6.8 million, being the main products purchased superphosphates, cumin seeds, dry coconut, fruit sweets, and pressed and moulded blocks of glass.
Born in Beirut in January 1936, Lahoud had a military career. He was elected president of the republic by the Lebanese parliament in 1998. Before that he had been the army chief general since 1989.
