President Lula's speech during the Brazil-Mexico Business Forum

Friends, Brazilian businessmen, Brazilian businesswomen, Mexican businessmen, and Mexican businesswomen. Friends from the press, friends who are accompanying me on this trip to Mexico.

First, I would like to thank Jorge and Ana, Apex and the National Confederation of Industry, and the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment in Technology for organizing this forum. We must always recognize the things that are done well, the things that ensure more productivity and more business for the future, and the things that people do with a bit of love, because they believe in what they are doing. So congratulations to those of you who organized this meeting.

And to tell you what a pleasure it is to return to Mexico for the sixth time as President of the Republic and three times without being President of the Republic. This is the ninth time I have visited Mexico. It is no small feat, because it is unusual for a president to travel so much to one particular country. And I am very grateful for the friendly relationship with businesspeople, trade unionists, politicians, political parties, and social movements I made in Mexico. I am very grateful for that. And therefore, it is an immense joy to be here.

The problem with a President of the Republic who reads a speech is that since he is usually the last to read, everything that is written here, including the figures, has already been said by the Mexican entrepreneur who spoke and by Jorge Viana. That we are the two largest economies in Latin America, that we export USD 8.5 billion, import USD 5.5 billion, that our flow has reached a little over USD 14 billion, that we have over 340 million inhabitants, that our economy is almost USD 4 trillion and bigger than Germany's. All this has already been said and all this is here in my speech. So I will not repeat these figures to you.

I would like to tell you how happy I am to be here and how happy I am not to read the speech because, between leaving here with the image of this cold paper and leaving here with the image of your faces, I prefer to look at your faces and say a few words that I feel like saying.

You know that this is not the first time I have been president of Brazil. I have returned for the third time to govern my country and, thank God, I was very lucky in my first two terms and, thank God, I have been lucky so far in my third term.

I have always understood that there is no magic for the economy. You do not make up the economy. You do not pull a handbrake turn like you are in a car on the freeway in a country of the size of Mexico. And, even less so, you do not pull a handbrake turn in an economy the size of Brazil.

First of all, we must be politically aware of how we are going to direct the events we want to happen in Mexico and Brazil. And I have figured out a few things in my life. Firstly, I do not know if you remember, the first thing we managed to approve in my government in this third term was a fiscal framework. Because we had to ensure the Brazilian people, the market, and the world that we would have a lot of fiscal responsibility.

Then I figured out that we needed to have economic stability. To have fiscal stability and economic stability, we would need political stability. In order to have these three things, we would have to have a fourth component, which was social stability. And in order to have all four of these things, we needed a fifth, which was legal stability.

And lastly, we needed a government with a lot of predictability, so that no one would be taken by surprise with things done under the cover of darkness. A very frank conversation with Brazilian entrepreneurs, with entrepreneurs from other countries, so that we could provide Brazil the serenity and tranquillity the country required to be governed. You know that when I returned to the presidency everyone thought, ‘Lula is going to be very nervous when he goes back to governing Brazil’. Because of what had happened to me, because of the scoundrelry they did to me over a period of time.

And when I came back as president, I came back predestined to put the past behind and not work with my liver, but with my heart and my head. And with a view to building the future... With a view to building the future based on the good things that happened in the past, without taking into account the bad things that happened. Because you cannot govern with your liver. You cannot govern with hatred or resentment. You waste a lot of time for things to happen. And I needed to build international credibility for what Brazil was going to be like in President Lula's third term.

And we experienced the following situation: I needed to rebuild the country, because its institutions had been half-destroyed. We had to recreate some ministries, we had to hold public service exams to staff the ministries and we had to rebuild thousands of infrastructure construction works that had been discontinued.

Just to give you an idea, there were 6,000 infrastructure projects in the areas of education and health alone paralyzed around the country. We went seven years without readjusting salaries and school meals. We spent seven years without increasing the minimum wage for the poorest part of our population. We went seven years without adjusting the scholarships awarded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, so very important because of the value of technology, you know, for the development of a country.

And we spent a whole year doing that. And I had met the head of the IMF in January at a G7 meeting in Hiroshima. And, with the absolute certainty of the big international bureaucrats, she said to me: “Look, Lula, Brazil's economy is going to grow by 0.8% this year”. And I asked: “On what basis do you say that? What are the criteria?” She said: “The criteria, the study, the research we have done.” “Who did you talk to? You should have talked to me, you should have talked to Haddad, to the people who are part of the government now. Because we are going to grow more than that. Because we need to grow more than that.”

And you know the result: we grew by 2.9%. If I were a trader, I would say 3%. I would increase it by 0.1% in order to get an accurate and stronger figure. But do you think that this put an end to the negativity? No. The same people decided to say that the Brazilian economy would only grow by 0.9% or 1.2% tops. And now everyone is surprised because the Brazilian economy may grow by 3.5%. This is not an exceptional growth because Brazil has already grown at 14% a year. Brazil has already grown at 10%. I left the Presidency of the Republic in 2010 with the economy growing by 7.5%.

It is not an extraordinary growth, but given the reality of the world economy today, it is a very virtuous growth and it is the result of a lot of work. And I would like the Mexican entrepreneurs to understand something. I have 70 deputies from my party in a parliament of 513. I have 9 senators in a parliament of 81. So, if you only look at it from a mathematical standpoint, I would not stand a chance of governing Brazil, because the difference is too great.

You saw that a president like Obama could hardly pass any project in his eight years in office. And why did we manage to pass everything we wanted? We managed to pass a constitutional amendment before taking office in order to govern the country, because we had no money to govern in 2023. We managed to approve the fiscal framework, which was so hard to do.

And we managed to pass a tax reform, something that we had been dreaming about for at least 40 years in Brazil.

And why did we decide to do all this? So that we could guarantee, not only to Brazilian entrepreneurs, but also to foreign entrepreneurs. And we managed to do it. And this meeting that I am asking Apex to coordinate aims to convince these businesspeople.

Because the best a President of the Republic can do is open the gate. But you are the ones who know how to talk business. You are the ones who know how to talk trade policy. Who own the money. So our role is to open up so that you can hold conversations.

And I want to start by saying to my comrades from Mexico. I am very happy, because in other debates I had in Mexico, I returned to Brazil asking myself: “Why are Mexican businesspeople so suspicious of Brazil? Why are Mexican businesspeople so suspicious of Brazilian businesspeople?” I could not understand it.

Today, I understand, because looking at the border I know how far Mexico is from the United States, I know how important Mexico's economy is to the United States, and I know how important the commercial relationship between Mexico and the United States is. But that does not prevent my fellow Mexicans from looking towards directions other than the North. Look for a while and you will realize there are many possibilities in a country called Brazil, with 200 million inhabitants and a reasonably large GDP and a reasonable share of the economy.

I also think that our trade agreements need to be reviewed and redrafted as soon as possible to improve the lives of Mexico and Brazil. I am happy to know that a comrade, whom I learned to admire through Celso Amorim and comrade Mauro, is going to be this country's Finance minister, except that finance ministers here deal with trade, not much with the economy. I am also very happy that my friend Lázaro Cárdenas has been chosen as the future President's Chief of Staff.

So the game begins very importantly for us. The game starts with a female player, and it is extraordinary that you have elected a woman to preside over this country. It is exceptional. And she is putting together a cabinet that, from the start, looks like it will be committed to the best practices of exercising democracy and the plural relationship that Mexico must have with the world, and that Brazil must have with Mexico.

This is why I think that you, business comrades, do not need to be afraid. Take a seat around a table. Look into the problems that hinder our trade relations. And let us see if the future President of the Republic and I have the wisdom to make changes that can benefit the people of Mexico and the people of Brazil.

I am already grateful for the behavior of my comrade López Obrador. I am extremely grateful for the ease with which he… with which we opened negotiations, for the anti-inflation policy that allowed Brazil to export to here. And I think that Cláudia must not only have learned from this productive practice, she also knows that she must do more and even better. That is the future of the successor.

When I returned to the presidency, I had the following in mind: I cannot be worse than I have been. I have to be better. I need to run a more effective government, a more competent government. We did not need to grow at 7.5%. What we need is growth. The important thing about growth is distributing its results equitably.

Because growth is not only achieved by the government, by government policy, by businesspeople. Growth results from the exercise, the sacrifice of millions of workers who get up at 6 am every day, work until 5 pm and often earn little in relation to their needs. This is the challenge facing Mexico and Brazil.

How will we create a society where so many people do not go so long without eating, and such few people eat most days? How do we do that? How do we solve the problem of poverty? I also want to invite President Cláudia, when she goes to the G20 in Rio de Janeiro, to join the Alliance against inequality, hunger, and poverty. Because there is no explanation for hunger in a country like Mexico. There is no explanation for hunger in a country like Brazil.

We eradicated hunger in 2014. When I came back, there were 33 million people going hungry. We have already lifted 24,5 million in one year and nine months. And we are going to eradicate hunger once and for all by 2026. This is an ethical, moral, and religious commitment.

And the Mexican economy has extraordinary potential. The Brazilian economy has extraordinary potential. I think we have not been able to use 70% of the potential we have yet. And this is why we must establish new agreements. Discuss in depth, without fearing discussion. Always bearing in mind that a good trade policy is a two-way street. I want to sell, but I also want to buy.

There needs to be a well-balanced trade policy relationship. Because nobody can stand deficit all their life. We need balance. And this is how we have to work. And this is why I make a point of talking to businesspeople. Because I need to bring back civility to Brazil's political relationship; it has lost its civility.

You know that Brazil spent four years in obscurity. In other words, Brazil did not visit anyone, no one visited Brazil. Brazil did not participate in anything, nobody went there. This is inexplicable for a country that has the eighth-largest economy in the world. For a country that has no international disputes and does not want to have any.

This is why I am against the war in Russia and Ukraine, because war brings absolutely no benefit to anyone. The only result will be the benefit of rebuilding things that had already been built. We cannot bring back the lives that were destroyed.

This is why I am against and condemn what Israel is doing in Lebanon right now, attacking and killing innocent people. Because the newspapers only show the leaders they want to kill, but the innocent people who die are not shown. This is why I am against the slaughter in the Gaza Strip. Because more than 41,000 women and children have already died. And after that you must rebuild what took centuries to be built.

War is the proof of human beings’ insanity. War is the proof of the civilizing incapacity of a citizen who thinks he can, explaining that must avenge an attack, going on an unnecessary killing spree with people who do not know how to defend themselves. So Brazil wants to be a peace zone. My country does not need war, it does not need conflict. I will hold 10 meetings, 20, 30 meetings if I must so that we can reach a common denominator, because this is what will help our growth.

Mexico is 500 years old, Brazil is 500 years old. I believe it is time for us to become highly developed economies. We have the intellectual base in our universities, we have science and technology. What we need is to believe in ourselves and decide what size we want to be. How big does Mexico want to be? How big does Brazil want to be?

We must not believe that all that is negative in our country comes from our past, or our elites, or the elites of the United States or China. Many things depend on us, are within our reach, and are at our disposal. Let us open up, sit down at a table and discuss: what is good for Mexico and what is good for Brazil? What can make Mexico's economy grow, Brazil's economy grow? What can I sell, what can I buy?

To do it in the most open way possible, so that we can become not just a 4.5 trillion dollar economies, but a 5 or 6 trillion dollar economies. We must not look at the growth of China and the growth of the United States and wait for a new Cold War. No! I do not want to fight the United States, I do not want to fight China, I do not want to fight India, I do not want to fight anyone.

All I want is to do business, I want economic growth, I want our industries to grow, I want our agriculture to grow, I want us to invest, Brazil and Mexico, in building artificial intelligence that can result in economic benefits for us, for our women, for our children, for our future. This is in our hands. We are smart enough for that.

So, my dear comrades, allow me to call you that. Dear comrades, ladies and gentlemen, I think we depend a lot on ourselves. If you have managed to be successful entrepreneurs in life, if you have managed to grow, if you have managed to generate employment, if you have managed to generate wealth, I think we now have to take on the commitment. We must now create a greater brotherhood between Brazil and Mexico. Brazil must look more to Mexico and Mexico must look more to Brazil. If we do that, I am sure that the future will be secured.

In Brazil, I complain a lot because I do not want one sector to prevail over another. Often, you take to a meeting a sector that is not the most optimistic in that relationship, that is not the sector with the most businesses, and you take it to a meeting with optimism. Now, when I want to hold a meeting, I ask my staff to select only those who are in favor. Those who are against it can stay out. Because if you hold a meeting to approve something and you bring someone who is against it, there will be no agreement.

I would like to say to my fellow Mexican businesspersons, that later this year, may God allow it, we will close the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. It is ready, and Brazil is ready to sign it, so that no one will ever say that South America is the one that does not want it, that it is Latin America that does not want it. And this agreement between Latin America and Mercosur can be extended to an agreement between the European Union and Latin America. The world needs this. The economy is a bit stunted all over the world. And we have the market for it.

My commitment to Brazilian entrepreneurs, I have already told them. The legal guarantees are there, the fiscal guarantees are there, the economic guarantees are there, the guarantees are in place. Now, what I can offer Brazilian entrepreneurs, I will tell you, is consumers for the products you manufacture. Because if there are no consumers, when you look at your company, you will see that businessperson walking around and you often think that you are paying him too much. Do not look at him as your employee, look at him as your consumer.

And then you will change your mindset and say: “No, I have to pay him well, because I need him to buy the product he makes here in my factory”. And when he becomes a consumer, everything will improve in our country, in Brazil and in Mexico.

So, comrades, may God place his mighty hand on you and make sure that there are no bad blood between you, no Mexicans holding grudges in Brazil, nor Brazilians holding grudges against Mexicans. And do business that is good for Brazil, for Mexico, for your companies, and for the Mexican and Brazilian people. Hugs and thank you very much.

Tags: Mexico