The fight against hunger and the quest for peace in Ukraine will be among the topics that Brazilian President Lula da Silva will discuss in an audience with Pope Francis and later in Paris with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
Lula will arrive in Rome today at the start of a trip that will also take him to Paris, where he will take part in the “Summit for a new global financial pact” convened by the French President.
The director of the European Department of the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry, Maria Luisa Escorel, explained at a press conference that Lula da Silva’s official agenda in Rome begins on Wednesday, when he will be received by the Italian President, Sergio Mattarella.
In this first meeting, the “intense bilateral relationship” will be discussed, as well as the state of negotiations for a trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, of which Italy is a “great enthusiast,” the diplomat indicated.
Lula will then travel to the Vatican, where on Wednesday he will be received by Pope Francis.
“The agenda of President Lula has convergence with the agenda of the Catholic Church: fight against poverty, fight against injustice, fight against hunger,” stressed the Brazilian ambassador.
The Brazilian president will also present to the bishop of Rome his initiatives for the search for peace in Ukraine, so far poorly received by Western powers, and which aim to create a group of countries that can mediate and bring Kiev and Moscow to the negotiating table.
After the visit to the Pope, Lula will meet with the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, a former friend who even visited him in 2018, when the current Brazilian president was in prison due to corruption cases that were later overturned by the courts.
Questioned at the press conference held on Monday in Brasilia, Maria Luisa Escorel said that Lula da SILVA will not meet with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“It was considered, in fact, a meeting with the Prime Minister but because of a scheduling problem, it was not confirmed. The latest version of the programme does not confirm a meeting with the Prime Minister, only with the President,” the Brazilian ambassador said.
On Wednesday, Lula will travel to Paris, where he will have a bilateral meeting with South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, and with the organisers of the next summit of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), to be held later this year in the United Arab Emirates.
The following day, he will join the work of the summit convened by Macron, which will try to pave the way for a new global financial pact that favours cooperation, the fight for climate, restores North-South trust and helps achieve the goals proposed by the United Nations in Agenda 2030.
On Friday, Lula will have a private lunch with Macron.
