S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/b> is going to pay homage, next week, to president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva. At a dinner with the Arab community, on March 25th, Lula will have his work of generation of closer ties between Brazil and the Arab countries officially renowned. The event, at Mount Lebanon Club, in the city of S\u00e3o Paulo, should receive around 1,000 guests, members of the Arab colony.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe importance of the Lula government, of his personal effort to improve relations between Brazil and the Arab countries, has always been mentioned. Nothing fairer, then, than to make public this recognition,\u201d explained the Marketing vice president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Rubens Hannun. The initiative is by the Arab Brazilian Chamber.<\/p>\n
The dinner is taking place as part of the celebrations of the National Day of the Arab Community, which also includes the South American Arab Culture Festival, with cultural activities about the ties between both regions, between the 20th and 30th of this month, in the capital and interior of S\u00e3o Paulo state. The 25th of March was established as the National Day of the Arab Community and became a federal law after a bill approved in August 2008 by the Presidency of the Republic.<\/p>\n
According to figures supplied by the Arab Brazilian Chamber, there are in Brazil 12 million Arabs and their descendants. In S\u00e3o Paulo alone, the city where Lula will be honoured, there are 2.5 million people of Arab descent. And president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva was the leader that invested most in relations between Brazil and the Arab world. Before him, only Emperor Pedro II had visited the region while in power. Today, for example, Lula is visiting Palestine.<\/p>\n
Rubens Hannun points towards trade as one of the areas where the efforts of the Brazilian president generated concrete results. Lula took his first trip to the Arab world in 2003, at the start of his term in office, and from then to last year Brazilian exports to the region have grown 240%, from US$ 2.7 billion to US$ 9.4 billion. \u201cSince his first visit, trade has started growing and has not stopped. It only stopped during the (global economic) crisis and, even then, dropped less than did trade between Brazil and other regions,\u201d said Hannun.<\/p>\n
The Marketing vice-president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber recalls that the organisation has been working for the growth of relations between Brazil and the Arab world for 57 years. According to Hannun, the Chamber also played its part in the relations developed by Lula and the Arabs as the organisation delivered to him a study showing the potential there was in the region as soon as he was inaugurated in office. \u201cThe seed had already been planted, but he watered it,\u201d said Hannun. <\/p>\n
He said that Lula\u2019s charisma and the importance he granted to the region granted to Brazil, in the Arab world, the image of a neutral, friendly and trustworthy country. Hannun recalls that whoever travels abroad notices that the president has become a name mentioned when talking about Brazil, as is the case, for example, with football and carnival. Apart from helping strengthen trade with the Arabs, Lula has arisen, on the global scenery, as a mediator for the questions of the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The dinner served should be Arab food. It will be a demonstration, recalled Andrea Monteiro, Marketing manager at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, of how the Arabs and the Arab customs are connected to the Brazilian community. In 2010, we are celebrating the 130 years of the Arab immigration to Brazil.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Mark Ament<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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