Cairo, 12/9/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The president of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, has invited Brazil to participate in a task force that will conduct the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. The invitation was made in letter delivered by the Palestinian minister of Foreign Relations, Nabil Shaath, who met with president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Egypt.

Acording to Brazil's minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, who participated in the Shaath- Lula meeting, Arafat would also like Brazil to open diplomatic offices in Ramalha and expressed support for the idea of a 2004 summit meeting in Brazil of Middle East and Latin American heads of state. Shaath declared that although Arafat is presently a prisoner in his own country, he would do everything possible to attend the summit. (AB)