RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Emirates News Agency reports that Brazil would welcome a BRICS-like bloc with the Gulf states to work towards achieving common goals, according to Eduardo Bolsonaro.
Brazil is the current chair of the BRICS, an informal association of five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
“We are open to new markets and new opportunities; therefore, we would welcome such an idea,” Eduardo Bolsonaro, Chairperson of Foreign Relations and National Defence Committee in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Brazilian Parliament, told the Emirates News Agency, WAM, in an exclusive interview during his visit to the United Arab Emirates.
“This is something the Brazilian president can discuss with the UAE leaders during his state visit to the UAE,” said Bolsonaro, revealing that President Jair Bolsonaro had accepted an invitation from the UAE leadership to visit the Emirates in October.
H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, was the first foreign minister from the Arab World to visit [in March] the Brazilian president after he came into power in January 2019, he said.
As Brazil’s reciprocal gesture to the UAE leadership, the president’s state visit to the UAE will be his first state visit to a country in this region, said the Congressman who is the son of the Brazilian president.
There are many factors that cut short the long distance between both nations, he added.
Both countries stand together against terrorism in all forms. A bilateral visa exemption agreement that allows citizens of both countries visa-free travel since June 2018 has been encouraging tourism and people-to-people relations, the congressman pointed out.
Two daily flights operated by Emirates from Dubai to Brazil [Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo] are the only direct flights from the UAE to Latin America. “That’s why Brazil acts as a gateway to Latin America for the UAE,” said Eduardo Bolsonaro.
On Saturday, Sheikh Abdullah and Bolsonaro met in Abu Dhabi to discuss the bilateral cooperation in the economic, investment, commercial, parliamentary, tourism, military and defense fields. They also emphasized the need to step up joint cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism of all forms.
“The UAE is looking forward to boosting cooperation with Brazil in all domains for the benefit of the two friendly peoples,” Sheikh Abdullah said in the meeting.
Bolsonaro said about 10,000 Brazilians were living in the UAE and sports such as Jiu-Jitsu and football brought Brazil and the UAE even closer.
There are about 1,600 Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructors and many Brazilian footballers with local clubs in the UAE, the MP said. Talking about the “12-million strong Arab community in Brazil,” the congressman said around seven or eight million Arab Lebanese among them constituted a larger population than that of [six million] Lebanon.
Arabs started coming to Brazil in the 19th Century and became part of the society. “They preserved their own culture but did not want to change Brazilian culture.”
He said a different trend was seen among migrants to Europe today. “Some new migrants in Europe want to change the culture of their host counties. That is something causing conflicts, I don’t think it is healthy,” Bolsonaro explained.
Brazil continues to welcome migrants from all over the world. “We have [descendants from] China, Japan, Iran, India, Africa, Europe, and Jews. That’s why Brazil with its more than 200 million population is a big country with many small countries inside,” he said.
About the US-Iran tensions in the Gulf region, he said, “We don’t see [the possibility] of a war. But we think it could be very dangerous if Iran develops nuclear weapons.”
Asked about the potential diplomatic solution to the issue, he said, “It depends on Iran’s action. Otherwise, Iran may attract more economic sanctions from the US. Iran’s economy is not doing well and it is a good time for them to reflect on what they are doing,” the Congressman concluded.
(Source: Emirates News Agency)