After Guyana, French President Emmanuel Macron is heading to neighboring Brazil for a three-day visit. This will be the first bilateral visit to Brazil and even Latin America. The French president will arrive on Tuesday March 26 afternoon for a first stop in Belém, in the Amazon, then will go to Rio, Sao Paulo and the capital Brasilia. A real journey through this giant of Latin America to mark the Franco-Brazilian reunion after the diplomatic tensions of the Bolsonaro years.
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To welcome his French host, Brazilian President Lula pulls out all the stops. Three meetings are planned in three days, in three different cities – under the rare protocol of a state visit. On the arrival of the French president from Guyanathe two leaders will meet in Belém, near the mouth of the Amazon River, to visit a cocoa factory and speak with indigenous leaders.
Emmanuel Macron will meet the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara and he will meet representatives of the Xingu and Yanomami peoples in particular. At the microphone of Lucia Muzell from the Brazilian editorial staff of RFIthe minister recalls that France and Europe have a role to play in preserving the rights of these communities known for their sustainable management of the forest.
To protect Brazil’s forests, we must protect the rights of indigenous peoples and the lives of those who live in the forest.
Sonia Guajajara, Minister of Indigenous Peoples
“ Lula wants to show Emmanuel Macron the complexity of the Amazon, which is not only a vast tropical forest, but also a place where 25 million people live », Declared to the press on Friday March 22, the highest Brazilian diplomat for Europe and North America, Maria Luisa Escorel.
A ” Franco-Brazilian moment »
In Paris, we talk about a “ Franco-Brazilian moment » even if there is no shortage of contentious topics: concerning Ukraine first, Lula still refuses to take sides against Russia or the ratification of the trade agreement betweenEuropean Union and the Mercosur which is suspended in particular because of the blockade in France. Officially, the latter will not be on the agenda because it is not a bilateral issue, Brazilian and French officials said.
Read alsoWhy the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union fuels the anger of farmers
In Paris, we recognize these differences, but this should not prevent us from moving forward together in other areas. In any case, this is the message that the French president wishes to convey during his visit. The two countries want to intensify their cooperation in the fight against deforestation, the reduction of fossil fuels and the ecological transition.
Common fight against climate and poverty
Lula and Emmanuel Macron also share the conviction that the fight against the climate goes hand in hand with the fight against poverty. A large delegation of businessmen accompanies the French president who wishes to take advantage of the trip to ask Brazilian companies to invest more in his country.
Relations between France and Brazil hit a low in 2019 after criticism from Emmanuel Macron targeting then-president Jair Bolsonaro, linked to monster fires in the Amazon. The Brazilian president had accused his French counterpart and other G7 countries of treating Brazil as “ a colony “.