Brazil reconnects with Portugal after six years

It was a day when President Lula shared his time with the two highest authorities in the Portuguese government. In the morning with President Marcelo Rebelo. In Portugal’s parliamentary regime, the position is more ceremonial, but the lack of ceremony that the two showed attested to a good relationship not only between the two countries, but also on a personal level. At the end of the morning agenda, in a press conference, president Lula was asked if he would agree to go to Ukraine to talk about the war. “While my government condemns the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, we support a negotiated political solution to the conflict. We urgently need to create a group of countries that try to sit at the table with both Ukraine and Russia to find peace”, said Lula. The whole afternoon was spent with Prime Minister Antônio Costa, who was re-elected last year. He is from the Socialist Party and Portugal has stood out in the European Union as a country with a good performance in the economy and also with good actions related to the environment. In all, 13 agreements were signed at that summit, which is the word used by the Portuguese to describe meetings between governments. This was the 13th, but it had not happened for a long time. During the last six years, the governments of Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro ignored the historic partnership with Portugal. A distance that delayed a relationship that could be even closer and more productive, according to Lula. “We can imagine the irresponsibility of those who have governed Brazil over the last six years. Because imagine, statistically, that in our first summit after six years, we signed 11 agreements [13 acordos]. Imagine if we could sign an average of 11 agreements each year that there is a summit, it means that we fail to sign at least 66 agreements with Portugal, which could make our relationship more extraordinary than it is”. that the 523rd anniversary of the discovery of Brazil by Portugal was being celebrated, these very intimate ties between the two countries are returning with renewed vigor. Now it is time to make up for lost time. Trade between both countries generates around US$ 6 billion a year Lula has the ambition to double that number. “We have an extraordinary potential to double the flow of foreign trade between our countries. We can be more daring. Allow our businessmen and ministers to talk more. Discuss more in search of future prospects in financing of our industries and products. The role of a ruler is to open doors, but those who know how to do business and have the competence to do so are businessmen.” By placing a wreath on the tomb of Luís de Camões, the poet of the Lusíadas, in the Jerónimos Monastery, President Lula honored the most important basis of this relationship: our language. In the same region is the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, a monument that honors the phase between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, when the Portuguese set out on seas never before navigated, in the words of Camões’ verses, to conquer the world. Brazil included. Today, it can be said that Portugal’s moment is a bit the opposite. The country has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and that is why the Portuguese government is encouraging people from other countries to come and live here, discover Portugal. This, of course, applies to Brazilians. There are already almost 300 thousand in Lusitanian lands. A greater proximity of the economies of the two countries will further enhance the partnership of what the Portuguese call sister countries.

Agência Brasil