Roundup: S. American, Arab summit shadowed by poor Arab turnout

While nine South American presidents are due to arrive on Monday for the first South American-Arab summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, only 6 heads of state out of the 22 Arab League members will show up for the summit.

"I would have liked to see greater Arab participation at the summit," Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa told reporters after he landed in the Brazilian capital Brasilia.

He also said that the summit would probably become a regular event of every two years.

Oil-rich Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, the Arab United Emirates and Kuwait do not send heads of state or government to the summit, whom host Brazil and other South American nations aspired to meet and discuss issues of trade and investment.

However, Jalal Talabani, president of the war-torn Iraq, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will find a new podium here to express opinions and carve their images so as to seek support from South American nations, analysts here say.

Other Arab leaders attending the summit include Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose country is rotating presidency of the Arab League, Lebanon's new Prime Minster Nagib Mikati, Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Mauritania's Prime Minister Sghair Ould M'Barek.

Arab diplomats in Brasilia, who declined to identify themselves, said that the United States pressured several Arab nations to keep distance from the summit after its request to attend the meeting as an observer was rebuffed.

Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt, the most populous country and a major player in the Middle East, will send Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit to represent him at the summit.

The two-day summit was proposed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in December 2003 with an aim to forge a closer ties for the two non-contiguous regions which have insignificant trade and economic links so far.

The Middle East is South America's weakest regional trading partner, with Brazil, South America's largest economy, exporting only 4 billion US dollars annually to the Middle East and importing 4.1 billion dollars, mostly in oil.

Exports to South America from Egypt, for example, accounted for only 1 percent of the country's total exports in the first 11 months of 2004.

Nevertheless, trade between South America and the Arab region has a great potential, according to experts.

At present, progress in economic cooperation has been made between the two regions, which include talks for a trade pact between the Common Market of the South and Morocco, and an agreement on preferential tariffs that the bloc is currently negotiating with Egypt.

Though a lackluster turnout may dampen enthusiasm of South America's 12 nations, the event provides a good forum for businessmen to discuss issues ranging from infrastructure, farm products, mining, tourism to sustainable development.

Participants will also discuss how to improve crop cultivation in drought-ridden regions and cooperation in the area of biotechnology.

Brazil also holds cultural events, such as the Arab Film Week and the South American Film Week from May 6 to May 12, the photograph exhibition titled "Arab Presence in South America" and music shows on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Those events will deepen understanding between the Arab world and South America, which has a large Arab community.

International Relations professor Peter Demant, from the University of Sao Paulo, said that Brazil's hosting of the summit has its cultural reasons, as nearly 8 million Brazilians are of Arab origin.

Source: Xinhua