Venezuela and other South American Countries Meet with Arab League

Caracas, Venezuela, May 11, 2005—Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez joined 11 other Latin American leaders and 22 members of the Arab League in Brazil for the first ever Latin American-Arab conference held in the Brazilian capital. The conference opened yesterday with remarks by Brazilian President Lucio Ignacio “Lula” da Silva and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who spoke of the importance of building economic and political bridges between the two regions. “Our biggest challenge is to create a new economic geography and international commerce,” said Lula. Bouteflika called for a “frank, open and real strategic alliance,” showing “audacity and imagination,” aimed at opening new commercial horizons and attracting investment. These comments were in keeping with Brazil’s motives for organizing the conference, widely seen as a further effort to give Brazil a global profile, and linked to Brazil’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

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