Within the framework of the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva as president of Brazil, Santiago Cafiero, Minister of Foreign Relations, highlighted the role of the president together with Alberto Fernández in overcoming existing problems in Latin America.
“That leadership that Alberto built almost alone in the first years, is now going to be put on another scale, on another level with the arrival of Lula,” he said in the first place.
Along these lines, the foreign minister maintained that “we now have the great challenge for Alberto and Lula ahead of us: to transform that friendly relationship of mutual respect and that perspective regarding Latin American integration, with respect to resolving inequality gaps, not only within our countries, but also towards the entire region”.
As reported by Télam, Cafiero emphasized the support they gave Lula when he was imprisoned. “We always remember with President Alberto Fernández when, as a candidate, we came to visit him when he was unjustly imprisoned,” he commented.
On the other hand, he spoke about the importance of the relationship between the two countries for the national economy. “Brazil is the main destination for Argentine SMEs. When an SME decides to export, it decides to improve the wages it pays, internationalize its products and its first destination is always Brazil, it is the market that gives them scale. It is Mercosur, because it is also Uruguay and Paraguay, but fundamentally it is Brazil and from there to the world,” said Cafiero.
