São Paulo – The Saudi-Brazilian Youth Forum begins on Monday (27). The program brings to Brazil 16 students from Saudi Arabia who will meet with Brazilian youths to visit social, sports and environmental programs in the cities of São Paulo, Manaus and Rio de Janeiro. The event is an initiative of the Foreign Ministries of both countries and has the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
"The objective of this forum is to analyse environmental questions, view the pacification of slums and analyse how Brazil is getting ready for the great events to take place between 2014 and 2016, the World Cup and the Olympic Games,” said Michel Alaby, CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber. "They want to have a vision of how to use this experience in Saudi Arabia itself,” he explained.
The programme of the youths includes visits to Paraisópolis slum, in São Paulo, and Cantagalo slum in Rio de Janeiro, talks about housing programs at the University of São Paulo (USP), a visit to an Indian community and to the Amazon Research Institute and a meeting with the Olympic Games organizing committee, among others.
The group, of men and women, includes students from the King Abdullaziz, King Faisal and Dammam universities, among other higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia. The youths will come in the company of a delegation from the Foreign Ministry of their country, headed by the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs for Cultural and Economic Development, Youssef Al Saadon.
*Translated by Mark Ament