Lula da Silva and Alberto Fernández hold the documents of the bilateral agreements at the signing ceremony at the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 23, 2023. Photo: Portal.
Presidents Alberto Fernández and Luis Inácio Lula da Silva held an extensive meeting at the Casa Rosada on Monday and signed a strategic agreement of great importance for the future of bilateral relations and the region, which they are committed to developing, among other tools, “ which increase and facilitate trade without obstacles” through “common currency”.
The presidents said that the intention is to create a currency for South American circulation in the long term and talked about the possible financing that Brazil will provide for the second phase of the construction of the Nestor-Kirchner gas pipeline.
“We are creating a deep strategic bond that will last for decades”said Fernández, speaking of the beginning of “a new stage”.
Lula assured this during his first foreign visit after taking office on January 1st “We will restore a relationship that should never have ended.”
In addition, both expressed their intention to make Mercosur more efficient and get Unasur back on track.
One of the big issues that the Argentine and Brazilian Presidents want to advance during the summit in Buenos Aires is that Development of a common currency with the proposed name South.
“We intend to break down the barriers to our exchanges, simplify and modernize the rules, and encourage the use of local currencies,” Da Silva and Fernández said in a joint statement.
Argentina is Brazil’s largest trading partner in the region, and both presidents stress that unifying a currency between their two countries would be the basis for their eventual expansion to other Latin American countries.
“We have also decided to advance discussions on a common South American currency that can be used for both financial and trade flows, reducing operational costs and our external vulnerability,” both presidents said in a written statement.
The Ministers of Economy of Argentina, Sergio Massa, and of Brazil, Fernando Haddad, as well as the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Santiago Cafiero and Mauro Vieira, attended the meeting between Fernández and Lula. Ambassadors Daniel Scioli and Reinaldo Salgado were also present. Another time they were joined by the secretaries of Strategic Relations, Mercedes Marco del Pont, and of the Secretariat General, Julio Vitobello.
After the meeting, they went to the White Room, where they signed agreements and held a press conference. There, the Argentinian ministers and their Brazilian counterparts signed various declarations on the individual areas.
“When Argentina and Brazil celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations, we start another stage,” said Fernández to break the ice after entering the Blanco hall with Lula.
Fernández recalled that “Bolsonaro rode through Brazil and Macri rode through Argentina. The challenges we have are very similar,” and that “The first challenge is to consolidate democracy and institutions.”
He said to Lula: “I want you to know, dear friend, that from Argentina we will always be by your side and we will not allow delusions to attack Brazil’s democracy and institutions. Our people do not want hate, they want freedom and they want dialogue”.
He added: “We must also work to organize an energy framework that guarantees the development of our cities. We talked about the possibility of gas from Vaca Muerta reaching Brazil and the possibility of electricity from Brazil reaching us.”
Lula explained: “I came back to make good arrangements with Argentina, to share the construction of what still needs to be built, to help Brazil and Argentina grow economically and for our cities to have homes to ensure that our cities have at least something to eat, at least three times a day, so that our people can study, work and have access to culture again”.
The Brazilian left-wing leader said he hoped Argentina “won’t allow the far right to win the elections because the far right hasn’t worked in any country it governs. I hope that the intelligence of the Argentine people will not allow an electoral catastrophe to happen.
In the signed joint declaration, they dedicated a paragraph to the “irreplaceable role” that judicial institutions have in the constitutional systems of both countries “as a guarantee of people’s rights against persecution on political grounds and judicial decisions”.
Here they stressed that Republican systems of government “need that judicial institutions maintain their independence and impartiality in the face of economic, political, and media interests.”
Subsequently, Fernández and Lula were at the Bicentennial Museum to attend a meeting with businessmen from both countries, attended by some governors such as that of La Rioja, Ricardo Quintela and CGT unionists, such as one of their general secretaries ., Hector Daer.
Later, in a private meeting, Lula Fernández suggested turning the page on bilateral relations and He invited him to travel to Brazil in June 2023, the month celebrating the 200th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, to which Fernández agreed.
In July, Lula will return to Argentina to take over the provisional presidency of Mercosur.
According to the participants of the meeting, the meeting between the Brazilian President and the Argentine was “happy”. They last saw each other on January 2, when Fernández traveled to Lula’s inauguration office in Brasilia and they had a bilateral meeting.
After ending the meeting alone while the economy ministers held a joint press conference detailing the agreements they had signed, as well as details on the common currency and the financing of the Néstor-Kirchner gas pipeline, Lula and Fernández went to the women’s room, to meet there with human rights organizations.
This meeting was one of the most emotional moments of the day and lasted more than an hour. Lula once said this to those present All progressivism in the region must be very united “because the fascist right cannot advance” and they must continue to fight by example of memory, truth and justice.
(With information from página/12 and agencies)