Lula da Silva speaks at a ‘hugely successful’ summit between the EU and Latin America

The President of Brazil considered this Wednesday that the summit between the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was “extremely successful” because it revealed European interest and guaranteed the “opening of Brazil”.

“It was a hugely successful meeting and of all the meetings I have been in, it was the most successful,” Lula da Silva said in an interview with the international press in Brussels, including the Lusa agency, after two days. EU-CELAC summit earlier this week.

In this interview, the Brazilian head of state justified the meeting’s success by looking at current issues: “Perhaps because of the dispute between the US and China, perhaps because of China’s investment in Africa and Latin America, the new Silk Road, and perhaps because of the war. “Ukraine Caused by Russian Invasion”.

“The fact that we held a CELAC meeting with nearly 60 countries clearly demonstrated the EU’s interest in targeting Latin America,” he said, assuring that he had never seen “such political and economic interest” from European countries.

According to the President of Brazil, Brasilia is “reclaiming the pleasure of participating in international politics and its leading role.”

“I think it’s important for Brazil to open up. […] and we are not going to miss this opportunity,” he assured.

Lula da Silva concluded that he was “delighted to have this meeting” after having 10 bilateral meetings and even meeting Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, albeit without formalities.

What was the first EU-CELAC summit in eight years, bringing together more than 50 leaders from both regional blocs in Brussels, was marked by divergent views on the war in Ukraine, namely Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, and it was the last country to nearly block the final declaration which reached consensus at the last moment.

As part of the EU-CELAC summit, the European Commission also signed, on behalf of 27 countries, two memorandums of understanding: one with Uruguay on a clean energy transition, a commitment to renewable energy, energy efficiency and renewable hydrogen, and another with Chile to establish a chain partnership creating value in sustainable raw materials.

The community leader also announced an investment of 45 billion euros in Latin America and the Caribbean in 135 projects, such as expanding telecommunications and reforesting the Amazon, strengthening cooperation between regional blocs.

In particular, examples of projects include collaboration with the Brazilian government and the EU private sector to expand telecommunications networks in the Amazon region, as well as contributions to the Amazon Support Fund and the Brazilian Tropical Plants reforestation initiative.

The EU is Brazil’s second largest trading partner.

Globally, the EU and SELAC represent almost 60 countries, about a third of the territory, 14% of the population (one billion people) and 21% of the gross domestic product.