Tuesday, March 31, 2009

South America - Arab League meet world at annual summit - MercoPress

The Arab League and South American countries will open Tuesday, their second summit with the purpose of boosting trade and cooperation. The idea of regular meetings between the 22 members of the Arab League and 12 South American countries was born in Brasilia in 2005, sponsored by Brazilian president Lula da Silva.

Although geographically very distant the two regions have long historic links in such areas as oil production (Venezuela and Saudi Arabia were five of the founding members of OPEC) and even migration: there’s a strong component of Arab descendants in South America. Sao Paulo for example is considered the second Syrian city of the world behind Damascus.

The purpose of the regular summits which includes government officials and business representatives is not only closer trade links, possibly some form of association, but also political, with strong cooperation in the international arena, according to Brazilian sources.

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