Lula’s special advisor, Celso Amorim will visit

The government of Brazil will make an official visit to Ukraine in the next few days, but it will not be headed by President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, but by his special advisor for international affairs, Celso Amorim.

The information was announced this Friday (21/04) by the Chief Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Márcio Macêdo.

In an interview with the press at the entrance of the hotel where the Brazilian entourage is staying in Lisbon, the minister explained that “President Lula has determined that the Presidency’s special advisor for international affairs, former Chancellor Celso Amorim, who was in Russia, also pay a visit to Ukraine”.

In March, during a videoconference between Lula and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, the Brazilian representative received an invitation from the Ukrainian to visit Kiev. According to Macêdo, Amorim’s trip would be a response to that invitation.

As in the relationship with Russia, Brazil prefers that the former Foreign Minister and Lula’s trusted advisor hold the first conversations before a meeting between the heads of state: Amorim held a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in February. On April 3, he visited Moscow, where he spoke with President Vladimir Putin.

The chief minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic hinted that the trip will take place soon, but did not detail the date on which the visit will take place. [segundo ele, “por questões de segurança”].

Macêdo also answered questions about Lula’s statements questioning the role of the United States and the European Union in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“I think there was an interpretation that does not match President Lula’s position. We respect the position of the European continent, of the countries that are in some way involved in the conflict. But Brazil’s position is one of neutrality, for a very simple reason: if When Brazil takes sides, it loses the political authority to bring peers and countries together to find a path to peace. This is President Lula’s feeling and this is Brazil’s tradition”, he stressed.