President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva postponed his departure to China after being diagnosed with mild pneumonia. Yesterday evening (23), Lula underwent tests at the Hospital Sírio Libanês, in Brasília, after returning from trips he made to Paraíba, Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro.
This Friday (24), Lula remains at the official residence of the Palácio da Alvorada and the meetings with ministers that were scheduled at the Palácio do Planalto were cancelled.
Boarding for China was scheduled for this Saturday (25) and, in a publication on social networks, the Presidency confirmed that it was postponed to Sunday (26).
“The President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is in Alvorada after tests at the Sírio Libanês hospital last night. The President has mild pneumonia and will therefore postpone the start of his trip to China until Sunday,” he wrote.
Schedule
Lula’s first appointment in China would be a meeting with businessmen and public agents on sustainable development, on Monday (27th), in Beijing. The main diplomatic events of the trip are scheduled for Tuesday (28), when Lula will have meetings with the president of China, Xi Jinping, with the prime minister of China, Li Qiang, and with the president of the National People’s Assembly, Zhao Leji.
The 29th will be dedicated to a business event promoted by the Sino-Brazilian High Level Commission and by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, with the participation of more than 240 Brazilian businessmen.
On the 30th, president Lula will go to Shanghai, where he will visit the headquarters of the New Development Bank, an entity created by the Brics (a group formed by Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa). On the occasion, the former president Dilma Rousseff will take over as head of the bank.
It will be Lula’s first trip to an Asian country after assuming his third term. But the trip to China is Lula’s third international trip after taking office: the president has already been to Argentina and the United States. The forecast of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that at least 20 trade agreements will be signed during the visit.
