São Paulo – The Foreign Ministers of the countries of South America and Arab nations met on Wednesday (21), in New York, in the sidelines of the 66th session of the Assembly General of the UN. According to a statement disclosed by the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), the 3rd Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa) has been scheduled for September 26 to 27, 2012, in Lima, Peru.
The meeting of heads of state of both regions should have taken place early this year, but was suspended due to the Arab Spring, the wave of uprisings that has already resulted in the ousting of the regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. The first summit took place in Brazil, in 2005, and the second in Doha, Qatar, in 2009.
Still this year, according to a press statement, there will be ministerial meetings in the areas of tourism, in Jordan, education, in Kuwait, and economics, in Bolivia. In 2012, meetings are scheduled in the sectors of environment, in Ecuador, social assistance, in Lebanon, energy, in the United Arab Emirates, as well as an event in the industrial area, promoted by the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organisation (Aidmo), and an Aspa cultural forum in the scope of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
Still according to a press statement, the foreign ministers congratulated the Palestinians for the decision of calling for UN recognition of their state, which the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, promised to make on Friday (23). They also congratulated the countries that have already officially recognised Palestine, mainly those of the Aspa.
*Translated by Mark Ament