Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (center), his wife Rosangela da Silva (left) and the Argentine Foreign Minister, Santiago Cafiero in Buenos Aires, this Sunday. IRINA DAMBRAUSKAS (AFP)
Brazil and Argentina seek to create a common South American currency.
It is the most ambitious objective of the strategic alliance that the presidents of both countries will relaunch during the visit of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Buenos Aires this week, the first abroad since he took power three weeks ago.
The president and leader of the Brazilian left, who landed on Sunday night in the Argentine capital, will meet this Monday with Alberto Fernández and the following day both will participate in the Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit.
In any case, both must share the limelight with the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, who is expected on his first trip to a Latin American country in five years.
"As far as I know, it will come," declared President Fernández in an interview published this Sunday.
Fernández and Lula announced, in a joint text on the website of the Argentine Presidency, that they have decided to "advance discussions on a common South American currency that can be used for both financial and commercial flows, reducing operating costs and our external vulnerability." ”.
In the document, they urge to "simplify and modernize the rules and encourage the use of local currencies" as a way to overcome barriers in commercial exchanges.
The Argentine Economy Minister, Sergio Massa, confirmed the talks but warned in statements to the
Financial Times
that this is the "first step on a long road."
Although it is a bilateral initiative, it will be offered to other South American countries.
According to the British newspaper, it is being considered calling it south.
Lula's bilateral agreement with Fernández will be eminently political rather than commercial.
Together they will inaugurate a business meeting at the Bicentennial Museum before participating in an activity on human rights and attending, at night, a concert by the Argentine-Brazilian brotherhood at the Kirchner Cultural Center.
It is not ruled out that he will meet separately with the Argentine vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Lula resumes the tradition that the destination of the Brazilian president's first trip is to neighboring Argentina.
In his case, the close relationship he maintains with his counterpart Fernández is also added.
The Brazilian is very aware that the Argentine went to visit him at the worst moment of his life, when he was incarcerated for a later annulled sentence.
It was 2019, Fernández aspired to the presidency and Jair Bolsonaro had been in power for a few months.
The ultra-right froze the diplomatic relationship with Buenos Aires as soon as Peronism returned to power with the defeat of Mauricio Macri;
his first official visit was to Donald Trump's Washington.
It is not the first time that the possibility of a common currency has been discussed, an idea that is more attractive for Argentina —without access to credit in international markets, with few reserves in the Central Bank and annual inflation of almost 95%. — that for Brazil.
In 2019, the proposal for a "real weight" was on the table of the then presidents Macri and Bolsonaro, but it did not prosper.
The Argentine government trusts that the good harmony between Lula and Fernández will help overcome the reluctance of their largest trading partner, after bilateral trade increased by more than 20% in 2022.
It is also expected that the leaders sign agreements on cooperation in energy sovereignty and financial integration, defense, health, science, technology, innovation and Antarctic cooperation, as anticipated by the Argentine Foreign Ministry.
The leader of the Brazilian left, who leads a government that includes the center right, is determined to return Brazil to the forefront of international diplomacy.
He wants him to once again exercise leadership in Latin American integration: promote Mercosur, be heard along with the rest of the emerging countries in the main international forums, actively participate in multilateral organizations and defend negotiation as a priority way to resolve conflicts.
For this reason, among the first measures adopted by Lula in his third term was the re-entry of Brazil into Celac and the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the Venezuela of Nicolás Maduro, broken by Bolsonaro.
Maduro's participation in the Celac summit has led to a new confrontation between the government and the Argentine opposition.
Former President Macri has described the visit of the Venezuelan leader and his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, as shameful (the Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega is not expected).
The former Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, has requested the arrest of Maduro.
"The vast majority of Argentines feel ashamed that our country is associated with others where there is persecution, torture, drug terrorism, political prisoners and fraudulent elections that mock democracy," Macri wrote on his social networks.
"Multilateralism implies debating without exclusions and without denying differences to improve ties between peoples," Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero responded.
The Celac summit has good chances of becoming the scene of Lula's reunion with Maduro, but the meeting has not been confirmed.
The Brazilian government has already sent a team to Caracas with the mission of reopening the embassy, initially, it will be led by a business manager.
Traveling with Lula is his wife, Janja, a sociologist with an active role alongside the president.
In her first interview, she stated that Evita and Michelle Obama were models she would like to follow.
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