Dina Ezzat examines the potential for closer Egyptian -- and for that matter Arab -- ties with Latin countries Talk of closer relations, especially on the economic front, with Latin America is not unusual in Egyptian diplomatic quarters. Egyptian officials, at the ministries of foreign affairs and trade, often refer to the vast potential for improved economic, and even cultural, cooperation with South America. They often say that they have not been paying much attention to that part of the world. But this is also where it often ends. Today, Egyptian officials say that they are going to move from words to deeds. Officials from South America say they really hope so. Perhaps, with the first ever Arab-South America summit scheduled to take place next April in Brazil, a new era of cooperation is on the way. Later this month, in New York, on the fringe of the UN General Assembly, Arab and South American foreign ministers and high-ranking officials will be meeting to discuss preparations for a summit that should bring their heads of states together in April in Brazil. The permanent representatives of the Arab countries, as well as those from the 12 countries of South America, initiated the first round of talks on this summit last week in Geneva. Also last week, the proposed summit was the subject of discussions in Cairo between visiting Argentinean Foreign Minister Rafael Antonio Bielsa and both Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Next January Argentina and Morocco are planning another round of preparatory talks for the proposed summit. "The Morocco meeting will cover the political, economic and cultural dimensions" of relations with an eye on the future, Bielsa said during a joint press conference held with Abul-Gheit last Thursday in Cairo. The Arab-South America summit was originally proposed by Brazilian President Lula da Silva last December during a visit to the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League. The Brazilian head of state had originally wanted to host the summit this September. "We are really looking forward to activating our relations with Egypt and the rest of the Arab world and we do hope that this summit will be a good starting point," said Osvaldo Pascual, Argentinean ambassador in Cairo. Pascual is convinced that a higher pace of cooperation and closer rapport between his country -- and for that matter the rest of South American countries -- and Egypt is certain to upgrade the overall profile of Arab relations with South America. Cairo-based diplomats of some South American states say they were pleased with the warm welcome Egypt and the Arab League accorded to Bielsa last week. They, however, also fear that this was just part of Arab hospitality to visitors and that neither Egypt nor other Arab countries have much genuine interest in pursuing more profound ties with their countries. "Your countries tend to think that our countries are just about good beef, tango, samba and salsa," said one South American diplomat in Cairo. "If you ask people what they know about Brazil or Argentina, it wouldn't be much," said another. Both diplomats -- who say that this dynamic applies to almost all other Arab states with the exception of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria -- put the blame on Arab officials. "Your officials do not visit our countries, your TV channels do not air our TV productions, and your cinemas do not show our movies... and I do not just mean Egypt, but Arabs in general." Arab officials admitted that there have been insufficient demonstrations of interest on their part, in terms of official visits, but they say that they make up for this by intensifying meetings with their counterparts from South America in several multilateral forums including the UN. They also argue that the modern cultural production from most South American countries would be hard to present to the Arab public due to the "big cultural distance". However, they admit that they need to do more if they wish to keep up the political support that South American countries have been according the Arab world on the multilateral front. They also insist that improving Arab-South American relations is a two-way street. It is true that most Arabs tend to identify South American countries with "good quality coffee and good football", said Ibrahim Mohieddin, who heads the Arab League's South America department, but it is also true that many in South America tend to identify Arabs with crude oil production. That said, there are over 17 million people in South and Latin America of Arab origin. But even with those multitudes, Arabs have not been very successful in communicating. "Arab countries want to communicate with the US and Europe. They are very proud of Americans of Arab origins, but they do not tend to think much about people of Arab origin in South America," said one South American diplomat in Cairo. Like many other South American diplomats he thinks that this is a big mistake on the Arabs' part. The US, he said, is today's superpower, and the European Union is also very important, but "other countries should count too, especially when they share common problems of poverty, illiteracy and superpower hegemony." In a press conference with Bielsa last week in Cairo, the Arab League's Moussa stressed his organisation's intention to pursue more active relations with South America. "We have agreed on exchanging experiences and [working to strengthen] trade and economic relations between the two regions," Moussa said. The statements made by Moussa reflect a genuine realisation on his part of the importance of South American and Latin states. But as some of Moussa's aides admit, member states of the Arab League might need more incentives to truly share Moussa's views. For the past three years Moussa has been trying to catalyse Arab countries into allocating enough funds for the Arab immigrants department that he established at the league. He still needs to work harder to convince them. "It would be impossible to work without the support of the states, and for this support to be forthcoming they have to be genuinely interested," said Rehab Qanawati, who heads the new department. According to Qanawati, in 1979 Arab leaders agreed to pursue closer ties with Arab immigrants. At the time, as now, the largest concentration of Arab immigrants was in South and Latin America. A few years later, the league had to close its office in Brazil due to a lack of resources. The office remains closed today. "This is only one example," Qanawati said. Like other Arab and South American officials, Qanawati is hopeful that the Brazil summit in April will bring about change. She is also well aware, however, that if the summit fails to produce a serious follow up mechanism and to encourage a wider diplomatic exchange, the problem will remain unsolved. Additional reporting by
