BRASILIA (Portal) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has canceled a high-profile trip to China due to medical reasons and the March 27-31 visit will be postponed to a later date, his press secretary said Saturday.
The spokesman released a medical statement stating that after a clinical evaluation, 77-year-old Lula was diagnosed with bacterial and viral bronchopneumonia caused by influenza A and started treatment.
“Despite clinical improvement, the Medical Service of the Presidency of the Republic recommends postponing travel to China until the virus transmission cycle ends,” the statement said.
The Brazilian government has informed the Chinese authorities of the postponement and their intention to postpone the visit.
The trip, which was set to include a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, was seen by the new left-wing president as a significant effort to improve ties with Brazil’s biggest trading partner.
Lula took office in January. He was originally due to travel on Saturday but had already postponed his departure to Sunday after being diagnosed with mild pneumonia.
He would travel with a large delegation, including half a dozen cabinet ministers, as well as governors, lawmakers and 240 business leaders. More than a third of business leaders came from Brazil’s agricultural sector, which sends the lion’s share of its beef, soybeans and pulp to China.
With the cancellation, attention now turns to the presentation of a much-anticipated fiscal framework in Brazil, initially promised by Finance Minister Fernando Haddad for March but delayed by Lula until after the China trip.
Haddad, who was originally scheduled to travel with Lula, will no longer travel to China, according to his press office.
The new framework is seen as essential to addressing tax concerns after Lula won congressional approval for a multi-billion dollar package that bypasses the constitutional spending cap to boost social spending and fulfill campaign promises.
Reporting by Marcela Ayres in Brasilia Editing by Diane Craft and Matthew Lewis
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