“The position of President Lula is that of dialogue” with Putin

In an interview with the “world”, the first granted to a foreign media, the new leader of Brazilian diplomacy claims to want to “reintegrate Brazil on the international scene”.

By Bruno Meyerfeld (Brasilia, Special Envoy)

“Brazil is back!” It is with these words that Mauro Vieira began his new mission. At 71, this diplomat now watches over, and for the second time, the destinies of Itamaraty, the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations, which, with more than 220 performances abroad, has the eighth diplomatic service of the planet. Precise, Courtois, Francophile and Francophone, this close to the new President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva has chosen to reserve his first interview to the world for a foreign media since taking office.

under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro , Brazil has become a pariah on the international scene. What assessment do you draw from this period?

I would prefer that we are talking about the future, all the projects we are going to carry out. The previous government belongs to the past, and it is obvious that we are in contrast to it. Our policy is to reintegrate Brazil into the international scene. In recent years, we have been absent, we have gone away and far from our neighbors – including France, which shares its longest land border with us [with Guyana]! It is a question of restoring our relationships with the rest of the world, at the level where they were previously located. With Latin America, the Caribbean, the European Union, China, the United States, of course, but also Africa, which has been completely forgotten over the past four years. It is a question of finding our role, but also our image. President Lula said it during his trip to COP27 of Charm El-Cheikh [in Egypt]: Brazil is back! And we feel it: the world was looking forward to us. This was seen on the day of the inauguration, the 1 er January: 67 delegations had made the trip to Brasilia. A record.

In May 2022, In an interview with the American magazine Time, Lula declared about the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky: “This type is as responsible [for war] as Putin.” What is your position on the conflict ?

Our position is very clear: Brazil condemns the invasion of the Ukrainian territory and the violation of international law. The sentence of President Lula may have been misunderstood because of a translation problem … Anyway, my interpretation is that the two parties, and the two heads of state, have the responsibility to seek a solution to this conflict. On the day of his inauguration, President Lula was visited by the president of the Council of the Russian Federation, Valentina Matvienko, and the first Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine, Ioulia Svyrydenko. In front of each, he insisted on the importance of finding a climate and a space for dialogue between the two governments. Bilateral and sectoral meetings must take place to allow the export of cereals or humanitarian operations. All this must allow you to start negotiating peace, which is essential, to Ukraine, to Russia, to Europe, but also to the rest of the world.

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/Media reports cited above.