The Argentine President, Alberto Fernández, told journalists yesterday at the Itamaraty Palace, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, after a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that Argentina and Brazil are two countries “indissolubly united”.
Fernández confirmed that he would receive the Brazilian president, who took office on Sunday for a four-year term, on an official visit on Jan. 23 in Buenos Aires, before a meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
“We have just had an extraordinary meeting with President Lula da Silva. Personally, I am very happy. I believe that the people of Brazil have given Lula da Silva the vindication he deserved. I am happy to be here and to experience it,” said Fernandez.
He reiterated that “institutionally, it has been a great meeting because we have clearly decided to restart the link between Argentina and Brazil with all the strength that this link should always have, which in the last four years became more difficult, but now we are both convinced of the importance of the link between Argentina and Brazil and give it the transcendence it deserves”, she emphasized.
Regarding the regional situation, the Argentine president said both are convinced that the world has changed and that “the regions have a new role to play in globalization”.
“Obviously, I desire to unite Latin America again in a common space. We both realize that CELAC has come, in some way, to make up for that, but it has not achieved the institutionality it deserves,” he said.
Fernandez said President Lula da Silva is a regional leader and will give Latin America a “very important” boost.
“His presence in Brazil is the return of Brazil to all international forums (…) Brazil’s absence from international forums was very evident, and it is something we cannot afford. Brazil is too important a country in the region to be absent,” he said.
“I want to convey my joy at seeing Lula president again. To convey my satisfaction with the meeting we have had only confirmed that we are both on the same path and looking for the same destiny for our countries and South America”, he added.