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Brazil Adopts Free Trade With Palestinian Authority in Show of Support
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by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reacts after meeting with Brazilian citizens, who were repatriated from the Gaza Strip, upon arrival at the Air Force base of Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Brazil has put into effect a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority that has been waiting for ratification for more than decade, in a show of support for the Palestinians.
“The agreement is a concrete contribution to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbors,” Brazil‘s foreign ministry said on Monday in a statement.
It said Brazil, which recognizes a Palestinian state and allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in the Brazilian capital in 2010, ratified the agreement on Friday between the Mercosur trade bloc of South America and the Palestinian Authority that had been signed in 2011.
It was not clear whether other Mercosur members would follow suit. Argentina’s right-wing government of President Javier Milei is not expected to do so.
The foreign ministries of Uruguay and Paraguay did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Ibrahim Al Zeben, called Brazil‘s decision “courageous, supportive, and timely.”
It is “the effective way to support peace in Palestine,” he said in a message to Reuters, adding that he hopes Palestinian trade with Mercosur, currently only $32 million a year, will grow.
Israel has warned countries that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-governance, and the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Hamas terrorist group, would effectively amount to a “reward for terrorism” that would hurt the chances of a negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
