League of Arab States
The League of Arab States (LAS) was established on March 22, 1945. Today, the organization has 22 members. They are: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Qatar, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Tunisia.
The Permanent Delegation of the League of Arab States in Brazil was opened in 1956 and had its diplomatic status recognized in 1975. It was closed in 1995 and, in 2005, the General Secretariat of the LAS announced the decision to reopen the League's Mission in Brasilia and appoint a resident representative. The LAS has only one other mission in Latin America, located in Buenos Aires. Since 2014, by decision of the LAS Council, the Ambassador of Brazil in Cairo is formally accredited as Brazil's representative to the organization.
In 2015, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on political consultations between Brazil and the LAS was signed on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Since the instrument was signed, three meetings have been held: in Brasilia (2016), Cairo (2018), by videoconference in December 2020, and again in Cairo (2024).
In February 2024, during an official visit to Egypt, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with the Secretary-General of the LAS, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and took part in an extraordinary session of the organization.
The LAS, in turn, was present at the G20 Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in November 2024. This was the first time that the organization took part in the group's Summit. The delegation was led by Aboul Gheit, who declared the LAS 's support for the Brazilian initiative to establish the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.
In 2024, trade between Brazil and the countries that make up the Arab League totaled $33.8 billion (a growth of 12.7% compared to 2023). Brazil has historically had a trade surplus, a trend confirmed in 2024, when the surplus in favor of Brazil was $13.4 billion. Many of the LAS countries are strategic destinations for Brazilian agribusiness, whose products such as sugar, meat and corn are highlights among exports. Brazil's largest trading partners among the LAS members in 2024 were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.