Sunday, January 1, 2023 | 1:47 p.m.
President Alberto Fernández traveled to Brazil this morning to participate in the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the first magistracy of that country, in what will constitute one of the central points of the national government’s international agenda for 2023, not only for the impact that the arrival of the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) to the Planalto presidential palace for the third time will have on the strategic bilateral relationship, but also because of its influence on the future of regional integration.
The flight that transferred the president and his entourage to Brasilia departed from the military sector of the Jorge Newbery Airport, in the City of Buenos Aires, reported Télam.
Fernández traveled accompanied by the foreign minister, Santiago Cafiero; the presidential spokesperson, Gabriela Cerruti; the Secretary for Climate Change, Cecilia Nicolini; and the Argentine ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioli, as stated.
The Head of State and the entourage arrived at the Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport in Brasilia around noon.
Lula’s inauguration – which will be witnessed by delegations from some 120 countries and 17 heads of state – will begin at 3:00 p.m., with the swearing-in ceremony in the National Congress.
Then, Lula and his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, will go to the Planalto Palace for the change of command and the delivery of the presidential sash.
After the swearing in of ministers, Lula will greet the foreign delegations by protocol to later offer the traditional reception of honor to the heads of state present at the inauguration.
Importance of Lula
The arrival for the third time of the PT leader to the Planalto (headquarters of the Brazilian Federal Government) is one of the highlights of Fernández’s 2023 international agenda, which will continue with the Celac Summit of Heads of State (on January 24 in Buenos Aires) and which will have as its exclusive feature the return of Brazil to the bloc (from where it was excluded by decision of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro) with the presence of Lula.
“Lula’s arrival can help to reunite the continent, where globalization is in question and acquires another meaning. The presence of Brazil was lacking in Celac,” declared Fernández days ago, in charge of the Pro Tempore Presidency ( PPT) of that regional mechanism, according to what Télam publishes.
In addition, in a meeting with journalists who cover the government’s foreign agenda, Cafiero declared that Da Silva’s presence at that summit “is a symbol and a symbol of what has been achieved in terms of the international agenda.”
Thus, Fernández’s attendance at Lula’s inauguration marks for the Casa Rosada an event of great relevance in its foreign policy, not only because of the way in which it will gravitate in the strategic bilateral relationship with Argentina’s main trading partner, but also also because of its relevance for the future of regional integration.
main partner
Brazil -as Scioli is in charge of reminding him every time he can- is the main partner and first destination of industrial exports of Argentina.
According to data from Palacio San Martín, between January and November 2022, Argentine exports of goods to Brazil reached US$11.5 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 8%, while exports of services accumulated US$1.1 billion, with an increase of 136%.
Both nations also have a strategic relationship on nuclear issues, regional security and projection towards the South Atlantic, Antarctica and the Paraná Basin and the Río de la Plata.
Argentina is Brazil’s third largest trading partner (behind China and the United States) and Mercosur’s main partner.
According to official statistics, intra-zone trade in the last two years had an increase of 38% in 2021 and 20% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2022.
During 2021, the total traded within the block was USD 40,000 million, a figure that will be exceeded this year, while only in the first nine months of 2022 a total of USD 35,000 million was reached, the highest value for that period since 2014.
shared vision
Fernández and Lula share a vision regarding promoting industrialization, import substitution, abandoning the primary model that Mercosur and the region have had at this time and advancing in productive chains where value is added.
This will be Fernández’s second visit to Brazil in less than two months, after the trip he made to Sao Paulo on October 31, after confirming the victory of the PT leader over outgoing President Bolsonaro.
It is known that Fernández and Lula maintain a relationship of “friendship” and a strong “political harmony”, deepened by the gesture of the Argentine head of state to visit Lula in July 2019 during his imprisonment in the Curitiba jail.
In fact, taking up a tradition of Brazilian leaders broken by Bolsonaro, Argentina will be Lula’s first trip abroad, next January 24, already become president of Brazil, “quite a gesture” from the leader of the PT to the Government of In front of All, they judge near Cafiero.
The importance that Lula assigns to the bilateral relationship with Argentina would be reflected in his decision to send a leader with political weight as ambassador in Buenos Aires, contrary to the Itamaraty tradition of appointing representatives with a diplomatic background.
