The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said today that the United States must stop “fostering war” in Ukraine, in his last message before leaving China for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the last leg of his tour. for Asia.
“The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union needs to start talking about peace so that we can convince (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Ukrainian President Volodimir) Zelensky to that peace is in everyone’s interest and that war, for the moment, is only in the interest of both,” Lula said a day after meeting his counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing.
One of the objectives of the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) is to create a group of countries to work on a negotiated solution to the conflict that began after Russia’s large-scale invasion of its neighboring country on February 24 last year.
“You have to be patient” to talk with Putin and Zelensky, he said. “But above all it is necessary to convince the countries that are supplying weapons, encouraging the war, to stop,” she added.
Yesterday, during his meeting with Xi, Lula assured that he wants Brazil and China to associate to “balance global geopolitics” and warned that “no one is going to prohibit” the deepening of relations between the two countries.
In this context, during the press conference held at the end of his visit to Beijing, the president said that he does not fear a negative reaction from Washington for his dialogue with the Asian giant: “When I speak with the United States, I am not concerned about what China thinks from my conversation with them. I am talking about the sovereign interests of my country. When I come to talk to China, I am not worried about what the United States will think.”
In February, Lula was received at the White House by Joe Biden, in a meeting in which both presented themselves as leaders of democratic values and defenders of the environment.
Today, he was confident that this strengthening of relations between Brasilia and Beijing will not cause any “scratches” with the United States.”
“We don’t need to break up and fight with anyone to improve. Brazil has to look for its interests. Brazil has to look for what it needs and Brazil has to make possible agreements with all countries,” he defended.
The summit between Lula and Xi raised the level of the alliance between China and Brazil after the return of the former union leader to the presidency on January 1 and resulted in the signing of 15 agreements between governments, 20 between companies from both countries and a boost to subtract the dependence on the US dollar from bilateral trade.
“China places relations with Brazil in a priority place in our foreign relations. You are our old friend and a good friend. It was with your attention and support that relations between China and Brazil achieved a great leap,” praised the host president.
In the 49-point joint declaration, Brazil ratified the recognition of only one China, with Taiwan. Both countries also supported their initiatives to seek a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine, although they did not detail the plans.
In 2009, during Lula’s second consecutive term, China displaced the US as Brazil’s main trading partner, and since then the relationship has grown with the export profile of raw materials, which is why Lula said he was looking for investments to create innovations with value. aggregate in Brazilian soil.
At the South American level, China confirmed that it wants to deepen relations with Mercosur as a bloc, without reference to possible unilateral agreements that the Government of Uruguay had encouraged.
Lula also took advantage of the speech to thank China for its support for the election of former president Dilma Rousseff as head of the New Development Bank (NBD), the bank of the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), a tool for the corporation of the global south that seeks to be an alternative to the World Bank to finance development actions.
Before returning to Brazil, Lula will make a stopover in the UAE today, where he will meet with its president, Emir Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, to discuss trade agreements, bilateral investments and the environment, the Brazil news agency said.
This is the second time that the president visits the country. The first was in December 2003, during his first term.
Source: Ambito
