No country grows alone
affirmed yesterday the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stressing that his counterparts from the South American countries, who are meeting today in Brasilia, must understand that it is necessary to work together to overcome the problems, and affirmed that he dreams of a currency for international trade other than the dollar.
Lula summoned the rulers of South America for a meeting to be held at the Itamaraty Palace, headquarters of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, and in which he seeks to reactivate the integration of a region with ideological breakdowns and internal crises.
With the exception of the Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, all the leaders, a dozen, confirmed their attendance at the first regional meeting of the highest level in almost a decade.
This week I receive the presidents of South America in Brasilia, to discuss together the future of our region. We have to work with our neighbors in building partnerships for economic development, strengthening cultural ties, and defending democracy.
Lula tweeted.
All discussions will be behind closed doors and a final statement with a common position is not yet guaranteed. Without a pre-established agenda and with a reduced format – only the presidents, their foreign ministers and some advisors will be in the room – the idea of the withdrawal
proposed by the Brazilian president is that the countries can frankly discuss common problems.
Lula yesterday received honors from his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, and together they announced the beginning of a new era
in the bilateral relationship, while asking that the summit not bring up the ideological differences between the different governments, but rather help find common interests that reinforce regional integration.
South America has to convince itself that we have to work as if we were a block, it cannot be imagined that alone we will solve serious problems that have lasted for more than 500 years
Lula warned at a press conference.
The former union leader, who is trying to design a new South American geopolitics, assured that he has spent years seeing setbacks in the world
in health, environmental and economic matters.
The leftist leader pointed out that the meeting is an attempt to advance a political and economic agenda that will be defined in later meetings.
In this context, the Brazilian announced that he could propose the idea of a common commercial currency that South Americans use as an alternative to the US dollar.
In addition, he described the US sanctions against Venezuela as exaggerated
and criticized the United States for denying the legitimacy of Maduro, whom Washington considers an authoritarian leader who has not allowed free elections.
The Venezuelan president, who is on his first visit to Brazil since 2015, asserted that his country wants to be part of the BRICS, which brings together the main emerging nations, an entry that Lula admitted he would favor.
