Saudi king Fahd bin Abdel-Aziz Al-Saud telephoned Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva yesterday, inviting the Brazilian head of state to visit his country. The monarch, who did not come to the summit of Arab and South American countries stated, however, that he intends to come to Brazil in the future.
According to the foreign relations advisor of the Presidency of the Republic, Marco Aurélio Garcia, various other Arab heads of state did the same. In his evaluation, this shows that there is no “political difficulty” in the relations between Brazil and the Arab countries.
Of the 22 countries in the region, nine sent their heads of state or government to the summit, the remaining ones are represented by their ministers of Foreign Relations.
The summit was officially opened today by President Lula and by the presidents of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, apart from the secretary general of the League of Arab States, Amr Mussa.
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