Sunday, January 1, 2023 | 7:59 p.m.
President Alberto Fernández attended this afternoon at the Planalto Palace at the change of command and delivery of the presidential sash for the third term as Head of State of Brazil of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, after the swearing in at the National Congress.
“With the arrival of Lula, it will be much easier to talk about integration,” said the Argentine president, adding: “Lula is an integrator, he believes in the Great Homeland, that Brazil is part of that Latin American, South American homeland.”
After the inauguration ceremony, Fernández participated in the official greeting by the already acting president to the Heads and Vice Heads of State and Government, to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and General Secretaries of international organizations present.
Tomorrow, bilateral meeting
Arriving in Brasilia this afternoon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship, Santiago Cafiero, confirmed that tomorrow the president will hold a bilateral meeting with Lula at mid-morning and recalled that the Celac meeting will take place on January 24 . “Lula decided that this is his first international trip, with which on the 23rd we will make a state visit to Argentina,” he reported.
Cafiero also referred to the link between the countries: “We have to continue strengthening the integration policy with Brazil, which is our first trading partner and the main destination for Argentine SMEs”, and highlighted the need to create “a globalization of countries in bloc, with more integration. It is not only Mercosur, which must be robust, but Latin America as a zone of peace that must be able to establish itself on the global stage”.
The Argentine president was also accompanied by the spokesperson for the presidency, Gabriela Cerruti; the Argentine ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioli and the Secretary of Climate Change, Cecilia Nicolini.
Next, they went to the Itamaraty Palace, headquarters of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to participate in the reception offered by President Lula da Silva and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin.
