MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands: S. American-Arab support for Argentina

Leaders from South America and the Arab countries currently meeting for their first summit in Brazil agreed to include in the final declaration a clause calling on United Kingdom and Argentina to resume Falklands/Malvinas dispute negotiations for a “fair, peaceful and lasting solution in accordance with the several pertinent United Nations resolutions”.

The clause will also mention the "incompatibility" of including the Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich islands as associate European Union Countries and Overseas Territories in the EU Constitutional Treaty because of the "existence of a sovereignty dispute over the islands".

The South American-Arab summit with the participation of 34 countries including 17 heads of state, (nine out of twelve regional presidents and eight Arab leaders) which begins Tuesday will make the declaration official next Wednesday.

The Argentine proposal sponsored by host Brazil was discussed extensively Monday but the original word "rejection" was replaced by "incompatibility".

Apparently some countries argued that the word "rejection" was unnecessarily strong, and could make relations with EU "tense".

Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim has described the first South American-Arab countries summit as the "beginning of a historical moment", and an example of "dialogue, understanding, mutual comprehension", so as to evolve "to a better world".

Mr. Amorim said the summit's purpose was to promote South to South cooperation given the affinities of South American and Arab peoples, an "intertwining of civilizations" because of the significant Arab migration to South American countries, which can easily be appreciated in names, food, music, folklore, architecture.

The summit will be signing a framework free trade and cooperation treaty between Mercosur and the Gulf Cooperation Council which is made up of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

This is the first agreement of its kind between two regions which virtually have no formal links.

All South American presidents are present with the exception of Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia. On the Arab side the outstanding figures are the Palestinian National Authority Mahmud Abbas and Iraq's president Jalal Talabani.

Analysts point out that for Brazilian president Lula da Silva who's running for re-election in 2006, wooing the numerous and influential Arab community in key states is quite decisive.