Washington (EFE).- US President Joe Biden and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will meet this Friday at the White House to focus on promoting democracy, combating climate change and war in Ukraine.
A high-ranking US official gave the press some details of the official agenda for the meeting, scheduled for 3:50 p.m. local time (20:50 GMT).
It will be the first face to face between Biden and Lula as presidents of their respective countries, although they know each other from when the American was vice president with Barack Obama (2009-2017). They saw each other for the first time in 2009 on a trip that Biden made to Chile, the official explained.
Biden, who believes that a good foreign policy is based on communication with other leaders, wants to develop a “personal bond” with Lula to make it clear to him the importance that the relationship with Brazil has for his government, said the aforementioned source.
Specifically, the two presidents will talk about how to strengthen their commercial relations, while respecting the rights of workers and promoting the fight against climate change with special attention to the Amazon, the official added.
One of the unknowns is whether Biden will use the visit with Lula to announce what would be the first US contribution to the Amazon Fund, which was created in 2009 to help combat deforestation in the Amazon and was financed mainly by contributions from Norway and Germany.
Norway and Germany froze their contributions to that fund with the advance of deforestation in the Amazon under the government of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023); but they have expressed their desire to resume them with Lula in power.
Beyond the Amazon, the other major theme of the meeting will be the defense of democracy, especially after Bolsonaro supporters stormed the headquarters of the three powers of the nation in Brasilia on January 8.
A similar event took place in the United States on January 6, 2021, when supporters of then-president Donald Trump (2017-2021) forced their way into the Capitol.
According to the aforementioned official, the two leaders will talk about democracy in their own countries, but they will also talk more broadly about initiatives to strengthen it at the regional level and around the world, including the so-called “Democracy Summit” that Biden has promoted. and that will be held in March of this year.
Lula and Biden will also talk about the war in Ukraine, the issue on which they have the most differences, since the Brazilian has not explicitly condemned the Russian invasion and has suggested that Ukraine also bears “part of responsibility.”
The Brazilian president has also advocated for dialogue and at the end of January he proposed creating a group – made up of the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, India and China, among others – to mediate in the conflict.
In addition to meeting with Biden, Lula is scheduled to meet today with leftist Senator Bernie Sanders, and with representatives of the largest union in the United States, AFL-CIO.
