President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) participates this Wednesday (23) in the first session with heads of government and state of the Brics — a bloc formed by Brazil, Russia , India, China and South Africa .
On his second day on the agenda, Lula will participate in the restricted plenary session of the Brics summit. Afterwards, she participates in an extended meeting.
Lula arrived in Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa, on Monday (21). The city will host the 15th meeting of the bloc’s heads of state.
This Tuesday (22), the first day of the meeting, the PT spoke and defended rapprochement with African countries , from which, according to him, Brazil “should never have distanced itself”. Lula ‘s trip across the African continent will also include visits to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe .
According to Ambassador Eduardo Saboia, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the meeting between the Brics leaders will have three main themes:
bloc expansion — Lula has already suggested the possibility of Saudi Arabia and Argentina joining
visibility for African issues
— Lula has been getting closer to countries in the region and discussion on the use of a common currency for commercial transactions between the Brics countries
Besides Lula, the summit will be attended by presidents Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa) and Xi Jinping (China), and the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi. Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate remotely.
agenda at the summit
Lula will participate in commitments linked to the Brics summit until Thursday (24).
According to the Itamaraty, on Thursday, the last day of the bloc’s meeting, an extended meeting will take place with the member countries of the Brics and around 40 invited countries, mostly represented by heads of state and government.
Among these guests are countries interested in joining the bloc, coming from Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Asia.
tour of africa
After the bloc summit, Lula will travel to other countries on the African continent. Visits to Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe are planned .
This is the PT’s second trip to Africa since he took office in January this year. Earlier, he made a quick trip to Cape Verde , an African archipelago in the Atlantic.
Angola will be Lula’s first destination after the appointments in Johannesburg. Itamaraty predicts that, among other agendas, he should meet with the Angolan president, João Lourenço, and participate in a meeting with businessmen.
In São Tomé and Príncipe, the president will participate in the Summit of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).