In a joint statement to the press in the White Room of the Government House, after having held a bilateral meeting of about two hours, Fernández described the day with his Brazilian counterpart as “wonderful” and stressed that it is the “origin” of a “much deeper close ties that will last for decades to come.”
“Everyone knows the deep affection and admiration I feel for my friend Lula,” he said, emphasizing that “he is a leader and a great statesman.”
He also recalled having seen him “20 years ago start a political process that lifted millions of Brazilians out of poverty” in his country and also “lead the Latin American region in the years that he was president.”
For this reason, Fernández stated that “another stage is beginning” with this bilateral meeting and remarked that “the exact same problems and the same needs continue to be linked to us that we had” at the beginning of the diplomatic relationship, 200 years ago.
“Bolsonaro passed through Brazil and (former President Mauricio) Macri passed through Argentina and the challenges we have are very similar,” he said. In this regard, he listed that the “first challenge is to consolidate democracy and institutions.”
At that moment, the President, looking at Lula, told him: “I want you to know, dear friend, that from Argentina we will always be by your side and we will not let any delusional attack democracy and the institutions of Brazil.”
“We are not going to let – he insisted – that any fascist take the attack on popular sovereignty from above. We know each other and we know that our peoples do not want hatred but freedom and dialogue, and they also want well-being and justice,” he completed.
The head of state stressed that “if there is something we have in common, it is the need to integrate Latin America,” adding that they spoke of “greater integration of countries, of strengthening, making more efficient, and promoting Mercosur.”
In addition, he highlighted that there was talk of “restarting Unasur” (Union of South American Nations), the regional bloc that functioned in the time of former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández, as well as “taking advantage of the meeting morning of Celac with the purpose of favoring the integration of the region”.
In another section of his statement, he advocated “organizing an energy framework that guarantees the development of our towns”, in addition to highlighting the “possibility of gas from Vaca Muerta reaching Brazil” as well as “electricity from Brazil reaching us”. .
Lula, who is beginning his third Presidency in Brazil, valued the signed agreements and thanked Fernández for having visited him in prison when he was incarcerated. “I will never forget the solidarity of the Argentine people.
I want to publicly say thank you, comrade, for all the love shown at that time and for the love in this new relationship between Argentina and Brazil,” he said.
The Brazilian president praised the relationship with former presidents Eduardo Duhalde, Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández, which he described as “privileged.”
In this regard, he asserted that Brazil “historically lived with its back to South America and looking towards Europe” and during his administration Argentina “became Brazil’s third largest trading partner.”
Lula was pleased that “today a relationship that should never have been stopped has been resumed.” In another passage of his statement, the President of Brazil expressed an “apology to the people for all the rudeness” uttered by Bolsonaro.
“I say that he is a genocide due to the lack of care and responsibility and for all the offenses that he said to President Fernández,” he stressed. In this regard, he expanded that Brazil “does not have the right to seek enemies, we have to build partners.”
Finally, he promised that “when my term ends, the relationship will be the best relationship, not because I have preference but because Argentina is a great country, since it was the fifth largest economy in the world.” “I can affirm that today is the beginning of a new story, rest assured, Argentina will be treated with the love and respect that it has always deserved and not even soccer will divide us because interests are more important and we will be partners in all things,” concluded.
The bilateral meeting was held in the Eva Perón Room and both were accompanied by the respective foreign ministers, Santiago Cafiero and Mauro Vieira, and the Economy Ministers, Sergio Massa and Fernando Haddad, respectively, as well as by the first ladies, Fabiola Yáñez, and Janja da Silva, official sources informed Télam.
Also present were the Secretary for Strategic Affairs, Mercedes Marcó del Pont; and the ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioli, for Argentina, and for Brazil the presidential adviser Celso Amorim and the ambassador of that country in Argentina, Reinaldo Salgado.
Then, everyone went to the White Room for the joint statement, where the Chief of Staff, Juan Manzur; the Ministers of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus; of Health, Carla Vizzotti; Defense, Jorge Taiana, and Security, Aníbal Fernández; the General Secretaries of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello; Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation, Cecilia Nicolini, and International Economic Relations, Cecilia Todesca; the presidential spokesperson, Gabriela Cerruti, and the pro-government national deputies Carlos Heller and Eduardo Valdés.
In the press conference after the joint declaration, the leaders spoke of the possibility that both countries have a common currency to use in commercial exchange.
Fernández pointed out that “we do not know how” a common currency would work “in our countries or in the region”, but they do know “of foreign currencies and the harmfulness of all that”, and for this reason “I celebrate the vocation of Brazil” to raise this idea. “If we don’t dare to change, we will continue to suffer the same ills,” he pointed out, and said that “the link between Argentina and Brazil will motorize Latin America.”
Lula recalled that “there was an experience between Brazil and Argentina, where each one paid in their currency. It was a small experience, something optional.” Now the “Finance ministers, with their teams, are going to make a proposal for transactions between the two countries and that it be done with a common currency,” he said.
This will be dealt with “after much debate and meetings, so that foreign trade does not depend on the dollar,” said the Brazilian president, and fought “for a Mercosur currency, as the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) tried and South Africa)”. “It will happen and it will be useful for countries with difficulties in accessing the dollar,” in which the central banks “will determine the type of currency for transactions,” Lula stressed.
