President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took advantage of the Mercosur summit meeting, this Saturday (20) in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), to also hold bilateral meetings with the presidents of Panama and Uruguay, informed the Communications Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom).
The first meeting was with the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, who is in Brazil for the second time this year, after making an official visit in August.
After the meeting, Lula confirmed on his social networks that he accepted an invitation to go to the Central American country on January 28, for the International Economic Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to the publication, Lula and Mulino talked about the results of the visit made in August. Between the two meetings, Panama signed a contract to purchase planes from Brazilian Embraer, while Brazil joined the Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty.
The agreement that provides for the preservation of Panamanian sovereignty over the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has already been signed and sent to Congress by Lula.
Uruguay
Before leaving Foz de Iguaçu, this afternoon, Lula had a private meeting with the president of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi. According to official information, the two discussed the imminent tender for dredging the Uruguay-Brazil waterway, as well as the expectation that construction of a new bridge between the two countries will begin in 2026.
“President Lula, for his part, indicated Brazil’s willingness to sign, soon, an agreement for the establishment of the Brazil-Uruguay Center for Research and Innovation in Life Sciences,” reported Secom.
After the Mercosur summit and bilateral meetings, Lula embarked back to Brasília in the late afternoon.
