Brazil’s newly elected president Lula has been invited to Washington to meet Joe Biden. A meeting to take place after the inauguration of the new Brazilian president, on January 1, 2023.
A highly symbolic approximation. Brazil’s newly elected president Lula, who won the election last October, has received an invitation to travel to Washington to meet his American colleague Joe Biden. On Monday, the left-wing leader received national security adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House, who formally invited him.
While sources close to the new president initially said he would have to visit the United States before officially taking office, a member of his administration said that this meeting would take place in early 2023, after the inauguration ceremony.eh January. An official visit should therefore be arranged at the beginning of the year. After his meeting with Lula, Jake Sullivan said Brazil and the US had common agendas and needed to develop a “constructive relationship” with “active and regular engagement”.
“I am excited to speak with President Biden and deepen the relationship between our two countries,” Lula tweeted after meeting the US official. In particular, the Brazilian president has declared that he wants to discuss the war in Ukraine, which he considers unnecessary, with Joe Biden. The former union leader had strongly criticized Joe Biden for the $40 billion (about €38 billion) aid he attributed to Ukraine to buy weapons. Other sensitive issues, such as the crisis in Venezuela, could be discussed between the two presidents.
Joe Biden had been one of the first heads of state to congratulate Lula on the election on October 30 to immediately recognize the result of the vote, as there were doubts about a potential rejection of the results by the far-right president. Outgoing, Jair Bolsonaro. The American president had had Lula on the phone the day after his election.
Since his campaign, Lula had said he wanted to resume diplomatic relations and meet the various heads of state if he became president of Brazil again, despite the obvious political differences they may have, and in particular with the United States. Even before his inauguration, he had already traveled to Egypt for COP27, to talk about the Amazon, among other things. For his part, the ousted president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been extremely discreet since his defeat, both in his travels and on social networks.
