Brazilian Arab Community Offers Lula an Arab Dinner in Recognition

Marisa & LulaNext week, the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce is going to pay homage to Brazilian president Luiz Inácio 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 recognized.

The event, at Mount Lebanon Club, in the city of São Paulo, should receive around 1,000 guests, members of the Arab colony.

“The 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,” explained the Marketing vice president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber, Rubens Hannun. The initiative is by the Arab Brazilian Chamber.

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 São 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.

According to figures supplied by the Arab Brazilian Chamber, there are in Brazil 12 million Arabs and their descendants. In São Paulo alone, the city where Lula will be honored, there are 2.5 million people of Arab descent.

And president Luiz Inácio 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.

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.

“Since 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,” said Hannun.

The Marketing vice-president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber recalls that the organization 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 organization delivered to him a study showing the potential there was in the region as soon as he was inaugurated in office. “The seed had already been planted, but he watered it,” said Hannun.

He said that Lula’s charisma and the importance he granted to the region gave 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 Carnaval. 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.

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, Arabs are celebrating the 130 years of the Arab immigration to Brazil.

Anba

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil’s Minister Steps Down Over Army Rift

Brazil’s Defense Minister, José Viegas, has resigned, sharply criticizing the country’s army over its ...

Brazilian Congress Once Again Snubs Venezuela’s Chavez

The opposition in the Brazilian Congress once again delayed on Wednesday, February 4, the ...

Venezuela's President Chavez waves to a crowd

Bush Shows In Brazil How to Give Chavez the Silence Treatment

US President George Bush told his Brazilian counterpart that he has decided to "minimize" ...

Argentina Calls Brazil a Heavy Weight and Complains About Asymmetries

Brazil and Argentina agreed to hold talks next week to address the ongoing trade ...

After 15 Years of Talks, 2015 Could See a Mercosur-EU’s Free Trade Agreement

Once the EU and Mercosur exchange their proposals for a free trade agreement, negotiations ...

Female condom

Brazil Orders 4 Million Female Condoms from US

U.S.-based Female Health Company announced today that it has received an order for four ...

WikiLeaks Reveals Paraguay’s Fear of Brazil’s Imperialism

According to a diplomatic cable exposed by WikiLeaks and reproduced by the Brazilian portal ...

Sky Is Falling over Varig

Varig will keep its name, but very little more, after its merger with TAM ...

Brazil Expecting Surplus of 1 Million Barrels of Oil in 6 Years

The discovery of giant reserves in the pre-salt layer led Brazil to believe that ...

20 Heads of State Confirm Presence at Brazil’s Arab Summit

At least 20 heads of state and government have already confirmed their presence at ...