Syria Today | President Assad tours Latin America

President Assad tours Latin America

President Bashar al-Assad made his first multi-country visit to Latin America in late June and early July, stopping to meet leaders in Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil and Argentina.

Assad's eight-day tour focused on improving economic and political relations with fellow left-leaning Latin American nations. The three South American states each have sizable populations of Syrian expatriates.

The president began his tour with a visit to Venezuela, where he sat down with the country's President Hugo Chavez.

Developing business ties was a major topic of discussion, with the countries agreeing to set up a SYP 4.7bn (USD 100m) trade and development fund, as well as signing several bilateral agreements. Chavez agreed to distribute Syrian olive oil in Venezuela, and the leaders also discussed establishing new agricultural and banking partnerships.

In terms of political ties, the presidents affirmed their commitment to an "alliance for peace" and a new international order that they assert will minimise US hegemony. They labelled their alliance – along with Turkey, Brazil and Iran – the "Axis of Free Nations". The pair used a press conference to express their joint condemnation of Israel, with Chavez calling it a "genocidal" nation.

After Venezuela, Assad headed to Cuba where he met with Raul Castro, the Caribbean nation's current president and brother of its former, long-serving President Fidel Castro, who visited Syria in 2001. The pair met at the Revolution Palace in Havana. Cuban state media released few details of the meeting, but said the leaders had agreed to jointly battle international drug smuggling.

Assad then travelled to Brazil, where he met with the country's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who confirmed his support for Damascus's claim to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. In Sao Paulo, another Latin-American city with a major Syrian expatriate population, Assad spoke before the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce to highlight investment opportunities in Syria. Trade between the two countries has increased rapidly, with Brazilian exports to Syria totalling SYP 6.98bn (USD 148.5m) in the first five months of 2010, up 96 percent compared to the same period in 2009, according to the Council of the Americas (COA) business and economic development lobby.

In Argentina, the last country Assad visited on the Latin-American leg of his tour, people of Syrian descent account for 13.3 percent of the population in the country's capital, Buenos Aires, according to the COA. Assad met with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the two signed an agreement to improve bilateral trade. In 2009, trade between the two countries exceeded SYP 7.43bn (USD 158m) and Argentine exports to Syria have grown by 75 percent over the past two years, the COA said.