Sources close to the delegation accompanying the former union member said that such an invitation was addressed to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during bilateral meetings.
Lula began his first official visit to the African country on Friday, where he attended a wreath-laying ceremony at a monument in the capital and later spoke with Ahmed.
This weekend, the Brazilian president will attend the 37th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) as a special guest.
During the meeting between government teams, Ahmed confirmed that he would travel to Brazil to attend as a guest the G20 summit, a group that brings together the 19 major economies of the world and the European Union and will be held in November in Rio de Janeiro.
Other topics discussed included the need to modernize the global governance system and the invitation to Addis Ababa to join the Global Alliance Against Hunger.
On the same day, Lula attended the event “Climate Financing for Agriculture and Food Security: Implementation of the Nairobi Declaration and Results of COP28 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change)”.
The visit is part of the process of revitalizing the Brazilian government's foreign policy towards African countries.
With 125 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa and, with growth of more than six percent in 2023, the fifth largest economy on the continent.
In addition, the country joined the Brics, a group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and the AU earlier this year.
Diplomatic relations between Brazil and Ethiopia were established in 1951.
Both countries had joint initiatives focusing on agricultural production techniques in semi-arid regions, exchange of experiences on biofuels, small-scale agricultural irrigation and school feeding.
Also in basic sanitation and sustainable forest management. Five cooperation projects are currently underway in the areas of agriculture and food security.
In bilateral trade, business flow between the two nations amounted to $23.8 million in 2023, almost all of it in the export of Brazilian products, particularly fuels, agricultural machinery and industrial products.
rgh/ocs