São Paulo – The Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff received the credentials from 16 new ambassadors in Brasília this Wednesday (23rd). Among them were Egypt’s Hossameldin Mohamed Ibrahim Zaki; Qatar’s Mohammed Alhayki; and Saudi Arabia’s Hisham Alqahtani.
Diplomats from Italy, Chile, Mexico, Haiti, Belgium, Mozambique, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, and Guiana also presented their credentials to Dilma. After the credential presentation ceremony, which began at 9:00 am and lasted approximately one-and-a-half hour, the ambassadors assumed their posts officially.
Aside from president Dilma, the ceremony was attended by the minister of External Relations, Antônio Patriota, and the international advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, Marco Aurélio Garcia.
According to information from the Secretariat General to the Presidency of the Republic, Dilma spoke shortly with the ambassadors while receiving the documentation. Generally speaking, the diplomats expressed their willingness to increase cooperation with Brazil and establish closer ties between Brazil and their nations.
Next Thursday (24th), Dilma will meet with the European Commission president José Manuel Durão Barroso at the 6th Brazil-European Union Summit, starting at 10:00 am, at Palácio do Planalto (the seat of the Brazilian federal government). Security in the Middle East and Africa will be one of the topics on the agenda.
Several Brazilian ministers will attend the meetings. Other attending European officials will include Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council (the bloc’s political organization), and Karel de Gucht, the European Union’s commissioner for trade.
*With information from Agência Brasil. Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
