Brazil, Jordan mark 60 years of diplomatic ties

AMMAN — Brazil has not made the decision to shift its embassy to Jerusalem, Brazilian Ambassador to Jordan Francisco Carlos Soares Luz said on Wednesday.

During a press conference on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries and celebrating the 35th anniversary of opening the two countries' embassies, in addition to Brazil marking its national day, the envoy expressed Brazil's support to the two-state solution through conducting negotiations, voicing gratitude for the Kingdom’s central efforts in sustaining regional security and stability, along with countering terrorism. 

The ambassador revealed that economic and trade cooperation between Jordan and Brazil has registered "tangible improvements" with an increase of 20 per cent in the first half of this year, expecting this year's trade volume to reach $300 million, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

A defence cooperation agreement will be signed, he added, highlighting the Jordanian-Brazilian cooperation in countering terrorism.

Touching on tourism, the diplomat said that the number of Brazilians who visited Jordan reached 15,000, pointing out that the television in Brazil, with more than 30 million viewers, has promoted Jordan's tourism potentials.

To celebrate Brazil's national day, the embassy has implemented a number of cultural initiatives, which will be concluded in a bazaar to be held next Saturday at the embassy in Amman, he added.

About 14 million Arabs live in Brazil, making up 7 per cent of the population, he said noting that the number of Jordanians in Brazil has reached some 3,000, which is the same as the number of members of the Brazilian community in the Kingdom.

The diplomat also drew attention to “exaggerated and misleading information” spread about Amazon fires, highlighting that Brazil has experienced "more dangerous fires" and the situation in other countries is worse. 

He said that “exaggerated attention” has been allocated to the Amazon, underlining that his country is ready to implement serious measures to prevent Amazon rainforest degradation.