Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted a meeting with the Russian public organization Delovaya Rossiya to have a phone call with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
During it, he called the potential for economic cooperation between the two countries good.
“Dear colleagues, let’s continue. This was a conversation with the president of Brazil.”
“With your permission, I would like to extend his [Lula da Silva’s] best wishes for success and prosperity to all participants of today’s meeting and the Russian business community in general.”
Brazil is Russia’s first trade and economic partner in Latin America, “although our business volume has slightly decreased due to the difficulties of settlements, in general, the potential is very good, and last year was a record,” the president specified.
“The potential is good. I believe that we will correct the situation as we are doing with other countries and regions of the world. And here the solution is simple: transition to settlements in national currencies,” he added.
The Kremlin press service added that the presidents of Russia and Brazil also discussed issues related to joint work within the framework of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and other multilateral platforms.
In addition, the note said they discussed the strategic partnership between the two countries.
“Mutual interest was expressed in the continued progressive development [of the partnership] and deepening of practical cooperation in various spheres,” the text notes.
THE CONFLICT IN UKRAINE
Putin confirmed during the conversation that Moscow is open to dialogue on the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin press service reports.
“The Russian president made some principled assessments of the development of the situation around Ukraine, and in parallel confirmed that Russia is open to dialogue through political and diplomatic channels, which Kyiv and its Western backers still block,” the statement stresses.
In turn, Lula thanked Putin for the invitation to the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg and told him that Brazil continues to be interested in maintaining fluid contacts with Moscow and Kyiv to seek a way out of the conflict on Ukrainian territory.
“I spoke now by phone with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.”
“I appreciate the invitation to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.”
“I replied that I cannot go to Russia at the moment, but I reiterated Brazil’s willingness, together with India, Indonesia, and China, to talk with both sides of the conflict in search of peace,” the South American leader wrote on his Twitter account.
Last April, Lula proposed to create a format similar to the Group of Twenty (G20) to discuss the situation in Ukraine and thus end the conflict. He also insisted that the European Union and the US should focus more on dialogue and negotiation than on sending arms to the Ukrainian Army.
With information from Sputnik
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