President Alberto Fernández was received by his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva this Tuesday with the aim of addressing the evolution of bilateral trade and promoting financial ties between the two countries. After the meeting, the Argentine president thanked the “explicit support» of the President of Brazil.
In a joint statement, the President celebrated and appreciated “the explicit support that President Lula has given us as a country and as a government«.
“They have made the decision to help Brazilian companies continue exporting to Argentina and they had asked us for some homework that we have done, they have to do with the necessary guarantees so that Brazil can favor these credits,” added Alberto Fernández, after the meeting.
For his part, Lula da Silva said that his country will intercede with the IMF to “pull the knife out of the neck» of Argentina on the issue of foreign debt because «Do you know how he got into debt and who he lent the money to?or” and therefore “cannot continue to put pressure on a country that only wants to grow, create jobs and improve people’s lives.”
“We are willing to help Argentina find a solution,” said Lula, who revealed that he is also talking with the members of the Brics bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
Meeting between Alberto Fernández and Lula da Silva: who made up the entourage
Heading to Brazil to meet my dear friend Lula and continue strengthening the strategic alliance between our countries.“, said the head of state through a publication on the social network Twitter, earlier today, before taking off for Brazil
In the photo that accompanies the message you can see Fernández together with the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa; the ambassador in Brazil Daniel Sciolithe chief of staff, Agustín Rossi; the chancellor Santiago coffee; and the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello.
The entourage is completed by the Minister of Social Development, Victoria Toulouse Peace; and with the presidential spokeswoman Gabriela Cerrutiaccording to official sources.
🇦🇷🇧🇷 | Arrival of President Alberto Fernández (@alferdez) to the city of Brasilia, where he will meet with his counterpart from the Federative Republic of Brazil, @LulaOficial. pic.twitter.com/QiT1mFmq6G
– Casa Rosada (@CasaRosada) May 2, 2023
The meeting with Lula began at 6:00 p.m. at the Palacio de la Alvorada in Brasilia and, after the meeting, the leaders will share a dinner, while Fernández will stay overnight in Brasilia.
The meeting will be continuity of the one started last Thursday through a teleconference between the two leaders and which, in addition, marks the political harmony of the Casa Rosada and the Palacio do Planalto since the PT leader assumed the presidency in January of this year.
“Today could be an important day for integration between the two countries, especially because of the great relationship between the two presidents (Fernández and Lula da Silva). We are going to have an intense work day with a broad binational government agenda“, said the Argentine ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioli, this morning in statements to Radio Nacional Rock.
«I worked at the time to articulate a great binational agreement with Brazil, which is very advanced in all areas and in the energy and economic sectors it is advancing in the final part”, remarked the ambassador.
The ambassador and former governor of the province of Buenos Aires assured that the agreements signed between the two leaders will also have a «great impact and benefit for Brazill because it is about financing the importers of the Brazilian industry so that trade with Argentina flows much more ».
Scioli pondered the relationship that Argentina now has with the administration of Lula da Silva and differentiated it from the one that existed with former president Jair Bolsonaro. “Now, with Lula, everything is easier because she is convinced, along with Alberto Fernández, that together we are more in this international context,” he remarked.
Among other things, the meeting will serve to advance the realization of Brazilian investments in Argentine soil: “There is a chapter that we are going to focus on, and that is that Brazil seeks a mechanism to finance Brazilian exporters,” added the diplomat.
Economy Minister Sergio Massa is part of the entourage
The presence of Massa in the procession that will meet with Lula and in a possible meeting with his counterpart Fernando Haddad points to the idea of recreate the import payment mechanism with yuan for trade with Brazil.
As Télam learned, one of the proposed axes will be to “strengthen reserves by financing imports via Brazil.” “Idem to China and the yuan,” they estimated close to Argentine officials working on the matter.
The idea of beginning to modify the currencies involved in bilateral trade has precedents: toward the end of last year, the possibility of a currency called “South” and, in recent weeks, Lula himself has made various statements about a de-dollarization of the exchange.
«I am in favor, in the case of Brazil with South America, that we create a currency to trade, that here in the Brics (the coalition of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is believed a currency of trade between our countries, as the Europeans created the euroLula said last Wednesday during his visit to Spain and Portugal.
The Brics agenda It is also a point that interests the Argentine government: Fernández has already expressed his intention to be part of that forum in his dialogues with Lula himself, but also with the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi; with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and -before the war- with the Russian Vladimir Putin.
On the other hand, the historic leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) had other gestures in recent weeks that have been publicly appreciated by the Casa Rosada, including the criticism against the performance of multilateral credit organizationsexplicit reference to the case of Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He did it from Shanghai, during the assumption of former president Dilma Rousseff as head of the Brics bank, the New Development Bank (NDB), when accused the IMF of “suffocating” Argentina with the demands for compliance with the agreement. Lula assured that the NDB (New Development Bank, in Spanish) should function as an alternative to the World Bank.
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