SOUTH AMERICA: Summit with Arab Countries Turns Political

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Analysis by Mario Osava

BRASILIA, May 11 2005 (IPS) - The summit of South American and Arab countries took on clearly political overtones, in contrast to what the Brazilian government apparently intended when it organised this “alliance of civilisations” aimed at bolstering economic ties between the two regions.

The summit of South American and Arab countries took on clearly political overtones, in contrast to what the Brazilian government apparently intended when it organised this “alliance of civilisations” aimed at bolstering economic ties between the two regions.

Terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq, reforms in the United Nations and other touchy international issues were underlined in the leaders’ speeches and in the final declaration that was adopted Wednesday at the end of the two-day summit.

The gathering was attended by 16 heads of state and government, and high-level ministers headed the delegations from another 18 countries.

Also participating were the leaders of five subregional blocs, including the Mercosur (Southern Common Market), the Andean Community of Nations, the League of Arab States and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

It was inevitable in a meeting where 22 Arab countries were represented that political questions would have greater repercussions than the attempt to boost trade and investment between two regions that have had very weak ties up to now.

Besides Brazil, the South American countries that sent delegations were Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

A meeting of this kind must deepen the political debate on international issues that affect humanity as a whole, like the need to strengthen multilateralism, while avoiding solutions that are imposed “by force by a single country,” said Chilean President Ricardo Lagos.

The world has changed a great deal in the past 60 years, something that is not reflected in the United Nations Security Council or other international bodies, he said. In 1945, the central concern was helping Europe recover after World War II, but today the main focus must be to make the globalisation process more equitable, said Lagos.

The idea that the new interregional cooperation forged at this week’s summit by the nascent South American Community of Nations and the League of Arab States is in some way recreating the Non-Aligned Movement was rejected by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the secretary-general of the Arab League, Egypt’s Amr Moussa.

To each period, its politics, said Bouteflika, recalling that the Third World Non-Aligned Movement, which was born in the midst of the Cold War, fought successfully against the colonialism that continued to hold sway at the time mainly in Africa.

But things have changed, noted Moussa, who pointed out that when the Movement emerged 50 years ago it was in the context of a bipolar world, while today’s world is unipolar and globalised.

This summit was marked by a new spirit, based on friendship and reciprocal benefits and interests, rather than on the confrontation of the 1960s, he added.

This markedly political nature of the final declaration and the summit in general could have provoked opposition from Washington, although U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised the initiative when she visited Brazil last month, noting that the administration of George W. Bush was keen on seeing greater interaction between the Middle East and other parts of the world.

Both Bouteflika and Moussa denied being pressured by the United States to tone down the contents of the Declaration of Brasilia. Nevertheless, the summit received relatively scant media coverage in the United States.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who gave the closing address as the gathering’s host, used more conciliatory language. He said that no one should condemn others without first “looking inside” and evaluating their own past errors. He also maintained, however, that terrorism “exists because of a poor distribution of wealth.”

He described the summit as “the beginning of a new era” in relations between the two regions, and stressed that the initiative will continue to be developed, because it is a policy of state, not simply one adopted by specific governments.

Lula also urged the participating leaders to work towards effective cooperation, adding that he did not believe “in individual solutions for any country in the world.”

The participants generally praised the summit as a success for bringing together such diverse countries and establishing “new bridges” of cooperation and trade.

The business seminar and investment fair, attended by 1,250 business representatives, including 250 from the Arab world, revealed that there is tremendous potential for increasing business between the two regions, given the fact that their economies are highly complementary, according to Brazilian Development, Industry and Trade Minister Luiz Fernando Furlán.

Although trade between South America and the Middle East is growing, it still represents “just over one percent” of the total trade conducted by the two regional groupings, he noted.

The main lesson of the summit was that “without mutual knowledge and familiarity, cooperation cannot grow,” said the minister.

Conflicts that undermine development are more numerous and serious in the Arab world. Aside from the war in Iraq and the ever-present tension between the Palestinians and Israel, there are civil wars in countries like Somalia and Sudan, while terrorism is an ongoing scourge in many members of the Arab League.

But South America is also facing problems. Colombia is in the grip of a four-decade armed conflict, former Ecuadorian president Lucio Gutiérrez was toppled last month, and Bolivia continues to face severe social unrest.

In addition, the trade disputes between Argentina and Brazil remain a major concern for the Mercosur trade bloc, which also comprises Paraguay and Uruguay.

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo told the press that his country is demanding a formal apology from Chile for having sold weapons in 1995 to Ecuador, which was engaged at the time in a border dispute with Peru. It was recently revealed that “there was more than one shipment sold,” he added.

But Toledo said he was pleased with the summit because it allowed his country to expand its foreign relations. Bouteflika will be visiting Peru, while Toledo himself will travel to Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories within the next few weeks.

The meeting also made it possible for Peru to drum up a total of 110 votes for election as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council next year, which means it only needs the support of 10 more countries, the president added.

Meanwhile, the summit proved to be a thoroughly masculine affair. At Tuesday’s opening session, there was only one woman among the 39 leaders seated at the table: Maria Levens, the foreign minister of Suriname, which happens to be a country with a large Muslim population.

Outside the summit, a group of women protested against the “oppression of women in Arab countries” and burned a number of burkas, the full-body covering with a veil that women in some of these nations must wear in public.