Lula’s bilateral meetings at COP27 are important signals, says expert

ESPM International Relations professor Leonardo Trevisan explained, this Saturday (5), in an interview with CNN which are important signs of the bilateral meetings that President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) intends to have during the 27th Conference of the United Nations (UN) on Climate Change (COP-27).

Lula’s allies told the CNN that he intends to meet with the presidents of the United States, Joe Biden, and of France, Emmanuel Macron, as well as the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres.

“These three meetings signal very important things. The meeting with Biden will signal a negotiation from head of state to future head of state around a very sensitive issue: which is the new geopolitical design of the world. We are with China versus the United States. President Lula will have the opportunity to tell Biden of our interests. We are not interested in siding with either China or the United States. We are interested in defending Brazilian interests”, explains Trevisan.

According to the professor, a direct conversation makes it much easier to find the negotiation spaces with the first Gross Domestic Producer (GDP) in the world.

“The second meeting, with Macron, is equally important. Because, behind it is the French resistance to the Mercosur-European Union agreement. We have to look at these sides. We are going to mitigate resistance from the interests of French agribusiness against the interests of our agribusiness”, he continues.

“The third meeting is essential. The meeting with António Guterres will represent the great Brazilian offer at COP27: food security. We are very strong food producers in the world. The UN is with all that recovery in the Black Sea, opening the exit of grains – wheat and corn – from Ukraine to the world. This process opens a space for Brazil to be a food security negotiator. The Brazilian role in the world changes with a direct negotiation with the UN. Behind that, we strengthened our positions, and perhaps our decades-long ambition in the UN Security Council”, he concludes.

Lula should leave for Egypt on the 14th and participate in the second week of COP 27. His agenda is expected to coincide with those of Biden, Macron and Guterres. The Brazilian president-elect was invited by the president of the place, Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

Before that, PT had been invited to join the delegation of the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho (MDB), on behalf of the Consortium of Governors of the Legal Amazon. In addition to the bilateral meetings, the idea is for Lula to use the event to reinforce his commitment to the environmental agenda to the world — in opposition to the current government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

There is also the expectation that Lula will go to Egypt accompanied by elected federal deputy Marina Silva (Rede), senator Simone Tebet (MDB-MS) and former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. Former Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira should also be part of the delegation.

(*With information from Thais Arbex, from CNN)