As part of Brazilian Lula da Silva’s presidential tour of Washington, his US counterpart Joe Biden received him today in the Oval Room of the White House, where he stated that democracy was put to the test and has prevailed so much in his country like in Brazil.
The meeting between the presidents had great expectations since they are the most important countries in the West and Brazil’s second trading partner, after China. Relations between the two countries had cooled during the tenure of former President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of former US Republican President Donald Trump.
After the bilateral meeting, the leaders offered a speech in the Oval Room of the White House in which Da Silva thanked Biden for recognizing his electoral victory over Jair Bolsonaro in the October elections.
“Democracy was put to the test in our countries, our mutual agendas sound very similar. I affirm America’s sustained support for democracy”Biden said, referring to the fact that both he and Lula faced far-right allies such as Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, whom they defeated in elections.
For his part, Lula, who had bilateral meetings and visited Argentina, Uruguay and the United States, in addition to returning to Celac, insisted on the importance of returning Brazil to international geopolitics and proposed a new global framework against climate change.
“We must never again allow there to be a new chapter of the Capitol and that there never be what happened in Brazil, an invasion of Congress, the Government House and the Supreme Court”said Lula about the assault on the buildings of the three powers that his government suffered on January 8, a week after assuming the presidency.
Lula also proposed a new “world governance stronger than the current one for the climate issue that makes decisions that countries are obliged to comply with” in the framework of measures to deal with climate change.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Da Silva proposed the creation of a group of negotiators to try to stop the war and a new world order so that the rich countries can finance the countries of South America and Africa to preserve the environment and develop the poorest communities.
With regard to climate change, Biden said that he wants the United States to participate in the Amazon Fund, a Brazilian instrument for international financing donations against deforestation and destruction in the South American jungle.
In addition, Biden and Da Silva targeted their predecessors, Trump and Bolsonaro, for belittling international relations and spreading “fake news” as a way of doing politics.
“Brazil spent four years marginalizing itself, with a president who did not like to maintain relations with any country. His world began and ended with fake news, it was false news morning, afternoon and night, he belittled international relations,” Lula said.
At that point, Biden cut him off, saying with a laugh, “Sounds familiar.”
The dialogue took place in the Oval Room of the White House, in the traditional meeting before the bilateral work meetings.
