The Brazilian leader took advantage of the program to highlight the results of the visit he made last week to South Africa, Angola and Sao Tomé and Príncipe, and his participation in Africa both in the BRICS Forum Summit.
The Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, defended this Tuesday that theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) transform the huge debt of African countries in infrastructure works, so that they can grow and later pay their obligations.
“It is true that the African continent is very poor. And the problem is that almost all countries owe a lot to the IMF and the amount of interest they pay prevents them from investing anything else,” said the progressive leader in his weekly broadcast on social networks.
The Brazilian leader took advantage of the program to highlight the results of the visit he made last week to South Africa, Angola and Sao Tomé and Príncipe, and his participation in Africa both in the Summit of the forum BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and that of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.
Lula affirmed that, despite their poverty, the countries of Africa they have a great growth potential mainly in agriculture, but they do not have that opportunity due to the enormous debt that overwhelms them.
He stated that the debt of african countries exceeds US$800,000 million, so almost all of their income has to go to the payment of interest on debt.
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REUTERS
“That is why I proposed the idea that the rich countries transform that debt (of the Africans) with the IMF into infrastructure works, so that the African countries can begin to grow and then pay off your debt. You have to give them that opportunity,” he said.
The President affirmed that Brazil can share with Africa the agricultural technologies that allowed him to turn the Cerrado (the Brazilian savannah) into one of the largest granaries in the world.
“The African savannah is very similar to the Cerrado and can be turned into a food production bomb not only for Africa but for the whole world,” he said. Lula assured that it is precisely because of this potential that she defends the need for the whole world to invest in Africa.
“It is a place where everything is to be done and that is why my obsession with working for Africa“, he assured.
Source: Ambito
