President Lula's press statement after bilateral meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

Before I read my press statement, I'd like to express my gratitude to President El-Sisi for welcoming me back to Egypt. At a time when we should be discussing global food production, economic growth, income distribution, and job creation, we are talking about wars.

Wars are frequently fought in the most insane ways possible. Because we have the war between Russia and Ukraine, and no matter how hard I look for an explanation, I can't find one for why the UN isn't strong enough to prevent these wars from occurring, anticipating any adventure, because war benefits no one. It causes death, destruction, and suffering. Also for the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Brazil was one of the nations that vehemently denounced Hamas' role in the assault on Israel and the abduction of hundreds of people. We also denounced it and referred to it as a terrorist act. However, there is no explanation for Israel's behavior in killing women and children under the pretext of defeating Hamas, which has never been seen in any war that I am aware of.

And it is unfortunate, President, that the multilateral institutions established to assist in the resolution of these issues are not functioning properly. That is why Brazil is committed, and we hope to have Egypt's support in making the necessary changes to the global governance bodies.

We need more countries to join the UN Security Council. Other African countries and Latin American countries should participate. There must be a new geopolitics at the UN. The right of countries to veto must be eliminated. Furthermore, members of the Security Council must be pacifists rather than warmongers.

The previous conflicts did not go through the UN Security Council, like the invasion of Iraq. The UN Security Council was not consulted before the invasion of Libya. Russia did not seek authorization from the Security Council to launch a war against Ukraine. And the Security Council has no authority to intervene in Israel's conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The only thing it can do is call for peace through the press, but it appears to me that Israel has the priority of refusing to comply with any decision issued by the UN leadership.

So we have to make a decision. And I would like to thank President El-Sisi for assisting Brazil in evacuating its citizens in the Gaza Strip. They listened to our ambassador and talked a lot, and we were able to remove nearly 2,000 people from Israel, as well as a significant number from the Gaza Strip. So I'd like to publicly thank President El-Sisi.

I am delighted to return to Cairo twenty years after becoming the first Brazilian president to visit Egypt. I sometimes thought Brazil was out of this world because we were the first to visit Beirut and several Middle Eastern countries. Because it appears to me that Brazil lacked the vocation to formulate foreign policy by looking at a world map. We focused on the United States and Europe, forgetting about the rest of the planet. So we decided to do it, which is why I came to Egypt in 2003, my first year in office.

I returned to this country to celebrate the centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. Today, as in 2003, my visit aims to bring Brazil closer to the countries of Africa and the Middle East.

Relations with Egypt play a unique role in this process.
In my meeting with President El-Sisi, we discussed issues and actions that will allow our cooperation to grow again in the bilateral sphere and expand in multilateral forums.

I suggested that the president elevate our relationship to the level of Strategic Partnership. Because two countries with populations as large as Egypt's in Africa and Brazil's in Latin America cannot have small-scale relations. Our relationship must be very strong, very large, and involve all possible activities, from agriculture to defense, from the economy to science and technology, from our joint attempts to democratize the operation of the United Nations to the fields of education and culture.

I hope that our Egypt companions and their president will be able to establish this strategic partnership with us, not least because our trade flow of 2.8 billion dollars is very small for the size of our economies and the size of our needs. And I told President El-Sisi that we want a win-win trade relationship, a relationship in which both countries win. We don't want a one-way trade relationship. What we want is to buy and sell, sell and buy, so that the end result is a balanced trade balance and that everyone is happy selling and buying and seeing our economies grow.

We are two large developing countries that are committed to promoting economic and social development as pillars for peace and security. We combat all manifestations of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Brazil has once again supported the Egyptian initiative to create an Arms Free Zone in the Middle East, similar to what already exists in Latin America.

At the G20, we can count on Egypt's support to make Brazil's presidency a success, especially in the two initiatives we are going to launch: the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty and the Global Mobilization Against Climate Change.

We also want to promote a broad discussion on the foreign debt of African countries. Even with the permanent presence of the African Union in the G20 as of this year, the continent's under-representation still demands at least two new African countries as full members.

In the BRICS, we will work together to reform the global order and build peace, especially at a time when protectionist pressures and conflicts that penalize the poorest countries are re-emerging.

The consolidation of BRICS as the main forum for emerging countries is an undeniable step towards a multipolar world. We will work for the creation of a common unit of value in BRICS trade and investment transactions, as a way of circumventing the world's dependence on a single currency.

Egypt's entry as a member of the BRICS Bank also represents a milestone in effective collaboration between emerging economies.

Our coordination with other developing nations is fundamental to the success of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-30), which we will organize in Brazil in 2025.

And we need to be aware that we will need a lot of help and experience from Egypt, which organized COP-27 in 2022.

My first international engagement even before taking office and my current mandate was the COP-27 here in Egypt, at the invitation of President El-Sisi.
 
Bilateral trade is growing and there is room to diversify our exchange, which is still concentrated on a few products. Egypt is now Brazil's second largest trading partner in Africa, with bilateral trade amounting to 2.8 billion. Our countries already benefit from the Mercosur-Egypt agreement, which came into force in 2017.

In order to move forward with greater integration between our businesspeople, I proposed the negotiation of a cooperation and investment facilitation agreement.

During this visit, we signed important agreements in the areas of science and technology and agriculture, which will contribute to the development of strategic areas.

The entry into force of an agreement in the aviation sector will allow direct flights between Brazil and Egypt and will favor greater exchange between our countries.

We also discussed the tragic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
From any angle, the scale of the violence committed against the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza cannot be justified.
We have always seen Egypt as an essential player in the search for a solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

I expressed my government's gratitude to President El-Sisi for his personal commitment to the repatriation of the Brazilians.

There is an urgent need to establish a definitive ceasefire that will allow the provision of sustainable and unimpeded humanitarian aid and the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.

Brazil is totally opposed to attempts to forcibly displace the Palestinian people.

For these reasons, among others, Brazil has expressed its support for the case brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa.

There will be no peace without a Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel, within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders.

I am sure that today we are inaugurating a new and important chapter in our bilateral relations.

So I want to thank you, President, for the affection of the people of Egypt and for your affection personally.

Thank you very much.