FILE PHOTO: Brazil's economy minister nominee Fernando Haddad looks on as President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva talks during a news conference at the transition government building in Brasilia, Brazil December 9, 2022. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
BERLIN: During a trip to Brasilia for the inauguration of Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Brazil is reclaiming its stake as a key international player, in both matters of the economy and the climate.
“It’s good to know that Brazil is back on the international stage,” Steinmeier said shortly before Lula’s inauguration in Brasilia.
“We need Brazil,” Steinmeier said when asked what interest Germany had in Lula’s success.
“We need Brazilian political leadership that will play a role not only in economic cooperation but also in protecting the global climate.”
Steinmeier said he was happy to see that Lula is willing to play that very role with Brazil, noting that he hoped international cooperation would not only come from Germany.
Germany is set to begin with an initial 35mil (US$37.5mil or RM165.7mil) donation to the Amazon Fund to protect the rainforest. These funds had been frozen under the right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro.
“It matters to all of us that we preserve the green lungs of the earth, the Amazon rainforests,” Steinmeier said.
On Saturday evening, shortly after his arrival in Brazil, the German president met with left-wing politician Lula.
“After the conversation, I have the impression that we can be confident in the development of trade relations between South America and Europe,” Steinmeier said.
On the matter of the European Union’s free-trade agreement with the Mercosur states in South America, Lula had made it clear that he would reverse Bolsonaro’s decision and re-enter the negotiations, Steinmeier said.
The 77-year-old Lula was sworn in as president on Sunday, returning to the job he held from 2003 to 2010.
He secured a third term after defeating Bolsonaro in October during the tightest presidential race in decades.
Taking the oath of office in Brasilia, Lula vowed to “maintain, defend and obey the constitution” and promised to “rescue” 33 million people from hunger and 100 million people from poverty - nearly half the country’s 215 million population.
He said that he would rebuild Brazil from the “ruins” left behind by the previous government, but did not mention Bolsonaro by name.
“Out of these terrible ruins, together with the Brazilian people, I assume the responsibility for rebuilding the country and making it a nation of all and for all,” he said.
Some 50 countries were represented in Congress for the swearing-in ceremony, among King Felipe IV of Spain and the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Portugal.
However, Bolsonaro was absent, having left for Florida last Friday.
After the ceremony, Lula paraded in an open-top Rolls-Royce, en route to the Planalto palace to don the presidential sash before a crowd of 30,000 supporters. — Agencies
