The Brazilian ambassador to the Kingdom, Marcelo Souza, affirmed that his country condemns and denounces the attacks against the Kingdom of missiles and bombed planes launched by the Houthi militia, indicating Brazil’s support for the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, and participates in pressuring the Yemeni parties to engage in the political process and to search for A peaceful solution to the crisis. In an interview with Okaz, he said that what Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did in a short period of time and contributed to achieving an unprecedented shift in the Kingdom and the size of very large projects is amazing. He explained that the Kingdom is making tremendous efforts to ensure and preserve human rights, citing the general movement in all aspects, including the empowerment of women, freedom of opinion, and openness to the world. The Brazilian ambassador touched on a number of issues of concern to the two countries, so the text of the dialogue:
–Â Important relations and the Kingdom is an important partner for Brazil in the field of trade, and to clarify, the import and export are shared between the two countries, and the volume of trade exchange is estimated at $ 5 billion, and if the year 2020, which is considered catastrophic in the world due to the Corona pandemic, decreases, and when the economy recovers, it will be the level of the volume of the exchange is $ 6 billion, and if there is a recession of up to 4 billion, meaning that the average is $ 5 billion, and this recession applies to other countries in Europe, and what I would like to clarify is that some have an idea that relations between the Kingdom and Brazil are not that important, and the truth is the opposite. This is because Brazil imports oil and chemical derivatives from the Kingdom, and the Kingdom imports food products, so if the average person returns to seeing luxury cars, his thinking will go directly to Germany or Italy, and some in the Kingdom may not know that the coffee they drink from Brazil, and what I mean is that every country knows With its products, Brazil shares the Saudis’ daily lives throughVarious food products, including meat, soybeans, sugar and corn, all of which are food ingredients, so my country is present in the Kingdom with its products, just as it is the presence of luxury cars, and through these products that we are proud of their presence in the Kingdom, far from the prevailing thing that what is known about Brazil is its export of ball stars Foot only.
–Â What is the extent of congruence in the views between the two countries regarding the security and political files in the region?
–Â As long as the size of the economic partnership between the two countries is of this size, political relations are moving in an upward direction, and the Brazilian President visited the Kingdom in 2019, and this confirms the strength of the relations between the two countries, While Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a guest of honour in the Future Investment Initiative held in Brazil, which he proposed 3 or 4 years ago, and on this occasion, the Saudi Public Investment Fund presented a very important initiative, through which it invests $ 10 billion in Brazil, and this A wonderful development in relations and the first signs of investment began with the direct interest of the Crown Prince, so I can say that the relations are very developed.
– As long as there are developing relations between the two countries, what is Brazil’s position on the brutal attacks against the Kingdom and behind which Iran is standing?
– This is a complex problem for the Kingdom. We, as Brazil’s embassy in Riyadh, are clarifying the truth about what is happening in the Kingdom, and for example, we have reported Our government has the comprehensive reforms that the Kingdom is undertaking during the past short period, the development it is witnessing in all fields, and all the changes it has made on the social level, the empowerment of women, and the holding of cultural, artistic and other events, which we see as a step forward in the path of the Kingdom in the coming period. I received unlimited support from the government and people of Brazil, and I, in my role as an ambassador, have dedicated media outlets since I assumed my duties in cooperation with Saudi newspapers to clarify the reality of the amazing development the Kingdom is witnessing, and memoranda of understanding have been signed, and indeed a lot of materials have been published about the Kingdom, with content commensurate with this development, This is a good thing, and in the future, there will be better.
– In light of your admiration for what the Kingdom is witnessing and the reforms it is achieving, but there is a country called Iran that attacks the Kingdom with missiles and drones bombed through its arms in Yemen, what is Brazil’s position? We support the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, and we participate in pressuring the Yemeni parties to engage in the political process and search for a peaceful solution to the crisis, and we support all humanitarian efforts provided by the Kingdom or other parties in order to address the humanitarian situation, and we strongly support the Kingdom’s initiative for a ceasefire.
–Â The world is witnessing that the Iranian role in the region is sabotaging. Are your positions limited to denouncing and denouncing only, or do you admit that Iran is behind what the Kingdom is facing?
–Â We have good relations with Arab countries and we have many Arab immigrants in Brazil since ancient times, and we also have an embassy In Iran, we are closely following all developments and stances, and great concerns in the region. As positions, there will be no clear positions, but rather supportive of any peaceful efforts that support the stability of the region.
–Â The countries of the world denounce and denounce the destabilizing Iranian actions in the region, does Brazil have a clear position?
–Â To be frank with you, the issue is more complicated than expected, and it is not a matter of taking sides against the other, and as for the denunciation, there is the United Nations General Assembly that is doing that.
– You express your happiness by visiting the south of the Kingdom, which is under repeated attacks by missiles and drones by militias supported by Iran, and as an ambassador to Brazil, how do you view this situation? • A: I would like to confirm that I feel safe and this is thanks to the Kingdom for its ability to confront these attacks, and the answer to your question must be We are thinking about how to end this war, and we were pleased with the news that the Kingdom proposed a cease-fire initiative and the search for peaceful solutions, and we were pained and we were not happy with the position taken by the other side not to interact with this initiative, so what do we do now? It is to support the efforts of the United Nations, and we are pleased that the Biden administration has appointed a special envoy to Yemen, and God willing, we will reach intensive efforts for a peaceful solution, and it is good to reconcile with Qatar, which is expected to contribute and make more efforts to participate in finding a solution to the Yemeni crisis, and to reflect on The security of the region, and from my point of view that the solution must come from the middle of the region, I mean by that the Gulf states, and it will receive the full support of the United Nations
– How do you see the Kingdom’s humanitarian role in Yemen?
–Â The Kingdom is the main supporter of humanitarian efforts in Yemen, through the King Salman Center for Supporting Humanitarian Efforts in Yemen.
– You touched on the huge leaps the Kingdom is witnessing in various fields, what do you attribute that to? • Who appreciates the development the Kingdom is witnessing are the diplomats because the size of the project carried out by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is very large, and I was in the Kingdom two years ago, This is from my good fortune, and I consider that I came at the right time, as I began to notice the dimension of the change, and this is amazing, and had it not been for the Corona pandemic, we might have seen greater than what we have witnessed in a very short period, and it is nice to see a country that has a plan, and the most beautiful people who interact with the vision, and it will be, in the end, an amazing work.
– I came to the Kingdom two years ago, and this means that you lived through the Corona pandemic, and you have an understanding of what happened in the world, how did you find the Kingdom’s treatment of Corona? • The Kingdom deserves praise for the way it dealt with the pandemic, which was not easy, and we all know that curfew The strict precautions were not easy on the Kingdom’s economy and compared to the countries of the world it did a very wonderful job, preferring people’s lives to economic gains, and vaccination campaigns, and despite the emergence of some observations in global countries, they are going in the Kingdom very well, and during the past week were vaccinated up to 10%, and we expect it to rise compared to the size of the efforts exerted, and the Kingdom has won the admiration of the World Health Organization in this aspect, and diplomats and foreigners, in general, say that they are fortunate to be in the Kingdom during this pandemic, due to the work and professional dealing, so thank the Kingdom for these wonderful efforts.
– Two years have passed since your presence in the Kingdom and there are some who praise human rights. How did you find, as an ambassador for Brazil, the kingdom’s observance and protection of human rights?
President Assad: What I can say is that the Kingdom is making tremendous efforts in this aspect, and there is a general movement in all aspects, including the empowerment of women, freedom of opinion, and openness to the world, and these are positive developments, and the Kingdom needs to be thanked and supported in this aspect.
My wish has been fulfilled … I visited the south of the Kingdom and enjoyed its beauty.
The Brazilian ambassador said that since he came to the Kingdom two years ago, he had been waiting for the appropriate opportunity to visit the south of the Kingdom, which was achieved through his visit to the Najran region. He explained that he feels happy to achieve this wish on the basis that he knows that the south of the Kingdom differs from its north, its diverse geographical nature that mixes between mountains and plains, and its different architectural character, indicating that his visit to Najran and since it is so short he did not enable him to see much about this beautiful region, Expressing his thanks to the Emir of Najran region, who facilitated the visit, which enabled him to see the canyon and the historical palace of the emirate. He sees that the archaeological features brought together the civilization of the past represented in the splendid distribution of the streets in the ancient city of Okhdood, the modern design of the Najran Museum, which is still under construction, and the Najran University that he saw from the plane, which includes 25 thousand students, expressing his admiration for the infrastructure that he thinks corresponds to With aspirations of the kingdom. And he said: “It is very wonderful to see people who care about the past and the present, and how happy I was standing on this concern.” He pointed out that he visited Najran to watch a match for the Okhdood club, which promoted to Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s league to the first degree, because he has a strong relationship with the coach of the team, and with players from Brazil. .
