Latin America comes closer to region

Doha: Nine presidents from South American countries met Arab leaders and senior officials in Doha on Tuesday in the second summit of its kind between the two blocs with the aim of boosting the relations between the two sides.

Ways to enhance relations in different areas, including trade and environment, and to deal with the impact of the international financial crisis are high on the agenda of the Summit.

"We feel there are many similarities and closeness between the Latin world and our Arab world," Qatari Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani said in his opening speech."

"Both are old civilisations, multi-sourced cultures and share an ambition for a decent future," Sheikh Al Thani added.

Furthermore, both sides share many obstacles and complications, he noted.

"The meeting is extremely important and a rare opportunity," said Michelle Bachelete, the president of Chile, and chairperson of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).

While she called to lay the foundation for new basis to handle the impact of the international financial crisis, she expressed the Union's desire for further co-operation with the Arab world, saying "the agreements between the two sides have a significant role".

Immediately after she finished her speech, in which she called the Gulf ‘the Persian Gulf', Qatari Emir responded by saying "we respect your speech... but we call it the Arabian Gulf."

Second time

The Arab-Latin American summit, which comes a day after the conclusion of the Arab summit on Monday, is the second since 2005. The first one was held in Brasilia.

Since then, the trade between the two blocs has doubled, Secretary-General of the Arab league, Amr Mousa noted.

Between 2005 and 2008, trade between the Arab region and Latin American countries jumped from $13.7 billion (Dh50.38 billion) to $21 billion in 2008.

Through the two regions are geographically distant, they share many resemblances and adopted many similarities vis-a-vis several regional issues. Also, each side needs the support of the other.

While each side includes major oil producers, tens of thousands of Arabs have migrated to the South America in the past few decades, and recently new airline routes were established between the two regions.

Politically, Latin American countries are strong supporters to the Arabs in their main cause: the Palestinian issue.

In his speech, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva called for an international peace conference on Palestine, including the developing nations to solve the crisis.

After several years of negotiations, which came to a halt because of the recent Israeli war on Gaza, "We couldn't establish a Palestinian independent viable state and we will not enter the peace process [again] on the basis of the agreements reached earlier and the Arab peace initiative."

At the same time, he stressed the need to include all the concerned parties in the peace process in efforts aim to find a solution to the 60-year-old conflict.

During the recent Israeli war on Gaza, Venezuela expelled Israel's ambassador to the country and a wave of support for the Palestinians swept across Latin America.

According to some press reports, Argentina will seek Arab support in a renewed dispute with the UK over the Falkland islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Argentina continues to claim the islands many years after the two countries went to war over the issue.

South American presidents, who took part in the Doha summit, include the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and Suriname.