Lula da Silva vows to restore ‘good and productive’ relations with Africa in Cape Verde

Brazil’s president said in Praia this Wednesday that his country had been away from Africa for a long time, but vowed to restore “good and productive” relations with the continent, which wants to help with technology transfer and training.

“The truth is that Brazil has been kept out of the world for the past six years, and it has also been kept out of Africa for a long time. And I want to restore these relations with the African continent,” promised Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. press statement following a meeting with his Cape Verdean counterpart, José María Neves, in the Cape Verdean capital.

The meeting, which lasted about an hour, took place at Praia International Airport during a stopover by Lula da Silva before returning to Brazil, after participating in a summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). , in Brussels.

The President of Brazil said that Brazil is “deeply grateful” to the African continent for everything that has been produced during 350 years of slavery in his country.

“We think that the form of payment that a country like Brazil can make is essentially transfer of technology and the ability to train people to specialize in various areas that the African continent needs and help to industrialize, in the possibility of agriculture,” he said in a press statement, not having the right to questions from journalists.

In his third term, after two between 2003 and 2011, Lula da Silva promised to restore the “good and productive” relationship that Brazil had with the African continent.

Emphasizing that “democratic values ​​have returned to power in Brazil” after the mandate of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, he said that the world also “needs democracy” so he will treat the continent “with the love that Africans deserve.”

He promised to visit several African countries this year and next, as well as to open embassies in countries where Brazil does not yet have an embassy.

“I want to have many meetings with representatives of various African countries so that we can determine how Brazil can best help the African continent. Brazil has returned to the world, and Brazil has returned to contribute to the development of friendly countries,” he assured.

As for Cape Verde, he promised to return to the country for a state visit to have a “deeper discussion” of relations between the two countries.

Cape Verdean President José María Neves also said he hoped to receive his Brazilian counterpart “soon” for a state visit to “bring this new Brazil to Cape Verde and Africa.”

Saying that Lula is a “great friend” of Africa and Cape Verde, José María Neves emphasized that the two countries have an “excellent cooperative relationship”, highlighting hundreds of Cape Verdean cadres who have studied in that country, including himself.

The head of state of Cape Verde, who attended the inauguration of Lula da Silva in Brasilia in January, also recalled that the two countries have “very important trade ties” and Brazil has contributed in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, research, information technology, defense and safety.

“We have a Brazilian naval mission here in Cape Verde, and on a global scale, Brazil has been a very close country and has made a good contribution to the development of Cape Verde,” Neves said, highlighting the country’s “return” from the north. South America in the world.

“Brazil is a great country, and its role in the world must match its size. We have seen President Lula da Silva bring that greatness to Brazil and place himself in a world that is ready to face the challenges the world is facing right now. “, – he said, adding that he counts on Brazil’s contribution to the rise of the South and to a more equal world.