Brazil: without Lula, Rousseff travels to China and takes office as president of the BRICS bank

Despite the cancellation of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s state visit to China, former President Dilma Rousseff will travel to Shanghai to formally take over as president of the New Development Bank (NDB).

Rousseff was nominated by Lula and elected president of the financial institution created by BRICS, the bloc of countries formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

She will start dispatching from the bank’s headquarters and move to Shanghai, but the inauguration ceremony, previously scheduled for March 30, has been canceled.

The ceremony will be organized to coincide with Lula’s state visit to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two governments are working on a new date. One proposal is May.

Government officials and Brazilian agribusinessmen have suggested that Lula travels in May, around the 18th, to take advantage of a local food fair, the SIAL, usually attended by Xi Jinping.

Lula could combine the state visit to China with a trip to the G7 summit in Japan.

But diplomats evaluate potential Chinese sensitivities and the availability of the president’s agenda.

Agriculture Minister Carlos Fávaro confirmed the proposed trip in May but said the new date now depends on a decision from China.

Rousseff’s trip was confirmed in the report by diplomats, advisors of the former president, and members of the Lula government.

Brazil’s ambassador in Beijing, Marcos Galvão, will travel to Shanghai to welcome Rousseff and help with the initial procedures.

She will begin work immediately.

According to government officials, it was possible that Rousseff would travel to China with the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aboard the largest plane in the fleet, an A330 that will be moved from Brasília to pick up Itamaraty and presidential staff.

They had traveled in advance to prepare for Lula’s state visit, which was canceled at the last minute.

The NDB, however, pays its staff for international travel upon hiring and a subsidy for installation in Shanghai.

Estadão showed that the bank accelerated the internal processes and unanimously elected Dilma as the new president last Friday, the 24th.

The idea was to coincide the inauguration with the presidential delegation’s visit to China.

The Lula administration has promoted an intervention at the head of the BRICS bank.

The president’s mandate is rotating, in a scheme of rotation of members appointed by the governments of participating countries.

The diplomat and economist Marcos Troyjo, nominated by the Jair Bolsonaro government, left the post last week to pave the way for the change, in common agreement with the Lula government, due to differences in positions.

It is the first time the government has intervened in the bank.

It displeased diplomats connected to the direction of the financial institution and was seen as a political gesture to rehabilitate Rousseff, who had refused other posts abroad when asked.

The election marks Rousseff’s return to public office after being removed from office by Congress.

Rousseff did not return to political office but only participated in lectures, debates, and academic and party discussions.

The former president was impeached seven years ago in a political context of loss of governability during the investigations of Operation “Lava Jato” (Car Wash), formally accused of having committed “pedalada fiscal” (fiscal pedaling), a maneuver to make up the public accounts, revealed by Estadão.

The former president had the impeachment approved by the House and Senate in a legal process on the grounds of the crime of responsibility by payment delays to public banks and the issue of decrees to open credit without the authorization of Congress.

Rousseff will now live and dispatch in the new, modern building built to house the NDB, opening in 2021.

The city is a global financial center.

She will work in an office overlooking the metropolis, China’s largest city, and will be paid at the same level as other multilateral banks, according to executives from the institution.

Dilma is expected to earn around US$500,000 per year.

The NDB does not disclose the exact amount, but people with experience in the bank’s management say that the parameter is the amount paid by the World Bank.

When contacted, the NDB did not comment.

The BRICS bank was created after a summit meeting of the heads of state in Fortaleza in 2014, during Rousseff’s term as president.

One of the intentions was to expand sources of loans and make a counterpoint to the financial system and multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Currently, the investment portfolio is around US$33 billion.

With information from Estadão