São Paulo – With his foreign policy, the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has laid the foundations of a new phase in relations between Arabs and Brazilians. And with his domestic policy, he distributed income, benefiting the country’s poorest. With these and other statements, the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Salim Schahin, paid his tribute to Lula on the Day of the Arab Community in Brazil at the Mount Lebanon Club, in the capital of the state of São Paulo yesterday (Thursday, 25th). The president of the organization, and the president of the country, were heard by approximately 1,000 people, mostly members of the Arab colony in Brazil.
“The implementing of a series of policies for generating and distributing income has benefited the poorest citizens and led the middle class to represent nearly 50% of our population,” said Schahin, highlighting that these people have become a part of the consumer market, thanks to the Lula administration, and that this was an important contributing factor for Brazil’s having had a smoother situation than the world average during the crisis in 2009. He also claimed that these consumers have contributed to the performance of the most popular shopping street in Brazil, 25th of March Street, established precisely by Arab immigrants and their descendents.
The date for the tribute to the Arab community, by the way, was chosen because of the street. “25th of March, as we all know, is the name of the best known shopping street in Brazil, adopted by Arabs and their descendents as the centre of their business in the country,” said Schahin. According to him, the social ascension of the new middle class, which goes shopping at the street, also reflects Lula’s life story. “Brazil currently has a president who was able to draw, from adversity, the strength for his personal victory,” said Schahin. He also stated that in foreign matters, Lula has assumed a diplomatic stance of inclusion and diversity.
That, according to Schahin, boosted the expansion of relations with the Arab world. He claimed that in the beginning of Lula’s term in office, the Arab Brazilian Chamber handed him a document on the potential of trade between Brazil and the region. “We estimated that Brazilian exports to the Arab nations had the potential to grow by 270% in four years, rising from US$ 2.6 billion in 2002 to US$ 7 billion in 2006," he said. As of 2008, however, trade between Arabs and Brazilians had already reached US$ 9.8 billion. In 2009, a year of crisis, Brazilian exports to the region dropped by only 4.6%, a rate lower than the average.
Nevertheless, according to Schahin, the Arab Brazilian Chamber wants more out of relations with the Arabs, be it in trade and investment or tourism and culture. The organization, said its president, has established work committees in order to increase the flow of tourism and investment with the region. It also has plans for establishing a Federation of South American Chambers and a House of Arab Culture in Brazil. According to him, the objective is to have the project for the Federation ready before the next Summit of Arab-South American Countries (ASPA), in Doha, Qatar.
The colony
Schahin also underscored the importance of the Arab colony in Brazil. "We are approximately 12 million Arabs and their descendants. We, Arab Brazilians, have influenced the formation of Brazil in fields such as industry, trade, arts, architecture, medicine, language, cuisine," said disse Schahin. Such influence was evident, by the way, at the dinner itself, through the presence of politicians and ministers with Arab last names.
The mayor of São Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, an Arab descendent, attended the meeting and spoke on the matter. “São Paulo has the largest Arab community outside of the Arab world,” stated the mayor. The colony’s importance was also underscored in an address by state governor José Serra, who is of Italian origin and made several jokes about the subject. According to Serra, the Arab community was the third one with which he became integrated in his life, after the Italian and Spanish ones. “I used to eat safihas and kibbehs before I even knew what the foreign community was,” he said, drawing laughter from the attending crowd.
The governor made his calculations and claimed that the Arabs comprise roughly 6% of the Brazilian population. He mentioned the number of descendants in the government, including those attending the ceremony, such as the minister of Education, Fernando Haddad, of Arab origin. Apart from Haddad, the dinner was attended by other non-government authorities of Arab origin, such as Paulo Skaf, president of the Federation of Industries of the State of Estado de São Paulo (Fiesp), federal representatives Beto Mansur, Jorginho Maluf and Paulo Maluf, and senator Romeu Tuma, the author of the project for establishing the National Day of the Arab Community.
Thanks
The dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors, Yousuf Al-Usaimi, also talked about the ties that bind Brazilians and Arabs. He praised the efforts that the federal government has been putting on to bring Brazil closer to the Arab world, not only through blood ties, but also in other spheres, such as the diplomatic, economic and political ones. “Thanks to His Excellency, the first Summit of Arab and South American Countries was held in 2005,” said Al-Usaimi. The dean stated that the Arab world acknowledges Lula´s stance in favour of the Arab nations, as well as his work as president. “The world looks with respect and admiration on his actions for Brazil to attain progress,” he said.
The dean claimed that the Arab community in Brazil takes pride in having Lula as its president, and that the Council of Arab Ambassadors is also proud of functioning in a “friendly country such as Brazil.” The compliments paid to president Lula by both Schahin and the dean were applauded by the community attending the ceremony.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
