Xinhua 2023:01:13.09:44
BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) — Brazil’s government on Thursday formally announced its return to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a regional integration forum it abandoned in the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro, ahead of Argentina (2019 -2022), reported the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero received the Brazilian Ambassador Reinaldo José de Almeida Salgado, who handed him the formal letter formalizing Brazil’s return to CELAC.
“In this way, Brazil returns to CELAC following former President Jair Bolsonaro’s decision of January 16, 2020 to suspend his participation in the mechanism. With this formalization, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States now returns to have its 33 members,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The official information added that on March 8, the Brazilian diplomat
Cafiero also spoke to the Brazilian Ambassador about the official visit that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will make to Argentina on Monday, January 23, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Alberto Fernández, and the following day he will participate in VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of CELAC.
Brazil had announced its return to the forum on January 5, making it official that day before Argentina, the country in charge of the mechanism’s pro tempore presidency.
CELAC was founded in 2010 and comprises the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It was born with the commitment to advance the gradual process of integration of the region, reconciling unity and political, economic, social and cultural of the more than 600 million inhabitants of Latin America and the Caribbean.
(Web Editor: Rosa Liu, Zhao Jian)