Morsi: Brazil can help Egypt eradicate poverty
May 9, 2013, 10:11 am

President Morsi invited Brazilian investors to invest in Egypt [Xinhua]

“We agree that South-South cooperation between Brazil and Egypt is strategic to establishing a multipolar world,” President Rousseff asserted after the meet.

This is the first ever visit of an Egyptian president to Brazil.

President Morsi’s visit to Brazil marked the last leg of his tour to the BRICS bloc of emerging economies.

Egypt wants Brazil’s help to eradicate poverty, Morsi said.

“We want to get to know Brazil’s experience in poverty reduction, social development and democratisation,” said the Egyptian president.

“Brazil could help Egypt achieve social justice,” Morsi said, adding that, “Egypt has a lot of potential that Brazil can help us exploit.”

Referring to Morsi’s visit as “historic”, Rousseff announced that Brazilian business missions will be visiting the African country.

The two leaders met for almost two hours at the presidential palace in the Brazilian capital Brasilia, to explore ways to increase trade flows and bilateral investment.

In a joint declaration, Rousseff noted that Egypt is the main destination in Africa for Brazilian exports, adding that as in Brazil, Egypt’s democratisation process will stimulate the economy.

Bilateral trade between the countries stood at $2.7 billion last year.

Rousseff said the free trade agreement recently signed between Egypt and members of the Common Southern Market (Mercosur) including Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, “will open the possibilities to increasingly more diversified exchange.”

The two leaders also agreed that “the Palestinian question is a key factor for achieving peace in the Middle East (and) we are concerned about the serious escalation of the Syrian conflict, especially of the violence against civilians. We advocate an immediate and effective cease-fire.”

Rousseff thanked Egypt for its support of Brazil’s candidate Roberto Azevedo to become the new World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief, whose election was officially announced on Wednesday.

Morsi, in turn, stressed the great economic potential of their bilateral relationship and invited Brazilian investors to invest in Egypt.

On Syria, Morsi said he is confident that the proposal of his government to create a dialogue group with the main parties in the conflict will lead to a resolution.

“Violence in Syria should immediately stop. We proposed the creation of a group that includes the government and the opposition, along with Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and the Islamic Congress, to negotiate a resolution to the Syrian crisis. It’s the only way out, and as long as there is no solution in Syria, there will be no stability in the region,” said the president.

With inputs from Agencies