U.S. President Joe Biden held a bilateral meeting this Friday with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, where the safeguarding of democracy, human rights, climate change and the war in Ukraine were at the center of the conversation, a topic on which Lula urged Biden to create a group of countries not involved in the conflict in order to find peace.
The Brazilian President reiterated to Biden the «need to create a group of countries that are not directly or indirectly involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine» in order to find the possibility of peace, something that, he said, he has already communicated to President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
«It is necessary to have partners capable of building a group of negotiators in which both sides believe and with which both sides can understand each other and can put an end to this war,» President Lula added, while stressing the importance of stopping the attacks first in order to then «move on to negotiate what will happen in the future.»
In this regard, both leaders expressed their concern about the global effects of the conflict on food and energy security, especially in the poorest regions of the world, and expressed their support for the full operation of the Black Sea Grains Initiative.
URGENT» PRIORITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE The American leaders placed the fight against climate change at the center of their meeting and recognized the leading role that both countries can play in sustainable development.
In this regard, the United States has communicated its intention to provide funding for programs to protect and conserve the Brazilian Amazon, including initial support for the Amazon Fund, and to boost investment in this critical region.
However, the Brazilian leader has confirmed that during their meeting he did not speak «specifically about the Amazon Fund.» «I discussed the need for rich countries to take responsibility for financing all countries that have forests,» he added.
«I did not specifically discuss the Amazon Fund, I discussed the need to preserve, now what I can say is that I will participate in the Amazon Fund,» Lula confirmed.
DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS During the meeting held between what they have called «the two largest democracies in the Americas», both leaders stressed their joint work in the interest of protecting democracy as well as their rejection of «extremism and violence in politics», all in the context of the assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 and the recent assault on the seats of state powers in Brazil.
In addition, both leaders have agreed to work together to advance the human rights agenda, a point on which they have committed to reinvigorate the US-Brazil Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Promote Equality, with the goal of benefiting marginalized communities in both countries, the two governments said in a joint statement.
In the same vein, Lula and Biden affirmed their interest in strengthening their partnership in multilateral institutions «in the context of the upcoming Brazilian presidency of the G20» as well as their goal of achieving a significant reform of the United Nations Security Council, in order to include permanent seats for African and Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
