President Lula aims to secure at least $10 billion in investments from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund for PAC work.| Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/Secom
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) resumes his international travel schedule this week after putting it on hold to recover from hip surgery. On his first stop, the PT member will land in Saudi Arabia, then travel to Qatar and then the United Arab Emirates, where he will attend COP 28.
According to State Department members, the intent of the roadmap is to conclude bilateral agreements and attract investments to Brazil. It will also discuss the situation of Brazilians who are still prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip due to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The president must address the conflict during his time in Qatar, which was a key mediator in the war between Hamas and Israel. The country is home to Hamas leaders and, along with Egypt, helped negotiate the ceasefire reached in recent days to release Israeli hostages.
Lula travels to Qatar on Wednesday. According to Itamaraty, the Brazilian president’s visit will provide “highlevel discussions” about the conflict. In contact with officials directly involved in the war, Lula hopes to negotiate the release of another 86 Brazilians still in the Gaza Strip.
The visit to the country is also economically motivated and the PT member hopes to conclude agreements in the field of infrastructure.
Lula will meet with the Saudi prince
Before heading to Qatar, Lula has an agenda in Saudi Arabia, which recently joined the BRICS (a bloc originally composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The country has large oil reserves and is viewed by the Brazilian government as an important economic partner.
During his stay, Lula will attend business meetings and meet with the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman the same person who gave the infamous jewels to former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and in which he was implicated in the 2019 death scandal Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
Among the events Lula attends in the country is one organized by Embraer, a Brazilian company that makes aircraft.
In the last ten months alone, trade transactions between the two countries exceeded $5 billion. However, Brazil hopes to increase that number and attract up to $10 billion in investments from the Saudis. “Some of these resources are already invested in Brazil, but there is still room for expansion,” informed Carlos Sergio Sobral Duarte, Secretary for Africa and the Middle East at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In addition to bilateral relations between Brazil and Saudi Arabia, the country’s trade with the Middle East has reached high levels. Last year, the trade balance between Brazil and Arab countries exceeded $32 billion of which the Saudis alone accounted for $8 billion. The Arabs sometimes import agricultural products and mineral raw materials from Brazil.
After visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Lula will travel to the United Arab Emirates on the 30th to attend COP 28 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
After a visit to the Middle East, Lula travels to Germany and spends three days in Berlin, where he also fulfills an agenda focused on investments and agreements.
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