President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said this Monday (10) that he will meet with the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia to launch an alliance between the countries that have the largest tropical forests on the planet. The meeting should take place in June. The announcement was made in an exclusive interview with the program. The Voice of Brazil, on the occasion of the mark 100 days of government.
“I already have, in June, a commitment with Congo, which is inviting Brazil and Indonesia to hold a great meeting of the three countries that have the largest green forest in the world”, said the president.
A alliance creation it had been announced during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27), held in Egypt last year, which was attended by Lula, then president-elect.
The coalition’s objective, according to the Brazilian government, is to value the countries’ biodiversity and promote fair remuneration for the ecosystem services provided by the three nations – especially through carbon credits from native forests.
The alliance signals to the international community that the issue of conservation and sustainable use of this environmental asset must be led by those who hold the main forests in the world.
Lula said that it is necessary to involve other countries in South America that also own portions of the Amazon rainforest in the alliance. The president informed that he should suggest to the Congo government to extend the invitation.
On climate change, the president defended that Brazil will play an even more central role in world geopolitics. “Now, with the climate issue, the potential for negotiations with Brazil has greatly increased. Brazil has the largest area of tropical forest”.
“It is not a sin to want to explore in the most intelligent way possible what you can transform into wealth for the country. This is how we will deal with the Amazon issue in our international relations”, he added.
China
With the trip to China rescheduled for this week, the president spoke about the resumption of a strong relationship between the two countries, which was “cushioned” in recent years and will be rescued. The Asian country is Brazil’s biggest trading partner.
“We are going to consolidate our relationship with China, I am going to invite the [presidente] Xi Jinping to come to Brazil, to visit Brazil at a bilateral meeting, to show the projects of interest. What we want is to build a partnership with the Chinese, to form a partnership with the Chinese, so that they can invest in things that do not exist, a new highway, railroad, hydroelectric plant, something that means something new for Brazil,” he said.
Lula also mentioned the strategic partnership with neighboring countries in South America and again defended the strengthening of regional relations. “It doesn’t matter if Brazil is rich with poor neighbors. We want everyone to grow in equal conditions,” he said. The president also spoke of the importance of resuming strategic relations with Africa, expanding diplomacy and transferring science and technology.
Obsession
Regarding the arrival of his third term, Lula stated that he is more experienced and capable of accomplishing more in less time. “The experience is that I can do more things, more quickly, I can produce more than in other mandates, because you have a two-term apprenticeship. We are going to do more in four years, proportionally more, than we did in eight years” , assured.
With regard to the 100-day milestone, Lula highlighted the effort to put in place social programs that had already been adopted in previous governments, but that the next period’s obsession is job creation.
“If doing social policy in the first three months was important, now the obsession is creating jobs,” he said.
“And generating jobs means making the economy grow. For the economy to grow, we need either money from the budget or financing. We have to use the State’s tax collection capacity, the financing capacity of public banks and the capacity to build PPPs.” [Parcerias Público Privadas], so that businessmen and government can together build the great works that are lacking for Brazil. That’s why I’m very optimistic.”
