White House articulates meeting between Lula Da Silva and Biden, says aide

The White House said on Thursday (10.Nov.2022) that it was organizing a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva (PT).

According to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, the US government is already in contact with Lula Da Silva’s team to schedule a meeting between the leaders.

In conversation with journalists, Sullivan said “face-to-face engagement” is expected between the White House and the president-elect’s staff.

One of the topics discussed in the conversation between the leaders will be the Amazon, as the advisor said. According to him, it is in the American president’s interest to help Brazil protect the forest by offering technical and financial assistance.

“And so he [Biden] is going to look for an early opportunity to sit down with the new president [Lula Da Silva], who has expressed a real commitment and motivation to protect the Amazon, and talk about a variety of forms of assistance that we can give – no just technical assistance, but also financial help,” Sullivan said. “This is something President Biden sees as a real priority.”

During the campaign, Lula Da Silva said that he intends to visit the United States in November or December, before taking office as President of the Republic on January 1. He has already confirmed that he will travel to Argentina and is also considering visiting China and European Union countries.

The day after the runoff, on October 31, Biden spoke on the phone with the president-elect. The two spoke for about 20 minutes and discussed topics such as democracy, preservation of the environment and how to expand cooperation between the countries.

The immediate recognition of Lula Da Silva’s victory by the Americans was built over the last few weeks between interlocutors of PT and members of the Biden government.

It was considered that the gesture was crucial to endorse the PT’s election and weaken any possible movement by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) against the result.

On his Twitter profile, Biden congratulated Lula Da Silva shortly after the election results. The White House also issued a statement the same day acknowledging that the elections were “free, fair and credible.” Here is the full text of the press release (48 KB).

“I look forward to working together to continue cooperation between our 2 countries in the coming months and years,” said Biden.

With information from Poder360 (Natalia Veloso)

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