President reviews outcomes of G7 and ILO meetings

This Saturday, June 15, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva held a press conference to provide an overview of his international engagements this week in Geneva, Switzerland and Borgo Egnazia, Italy. During his visit to Europe, Lula met with global leaders and representatives of international organizations, participated in the Inaugural Forum of the Coalition for Social Justice of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and joined the discussions at the G7 Summit (comprising Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom).

“I invited everyone to join the fight against inequality, hunger and poverty. It is just not possible for half a dozen people to have more money than the GDP of England, the GDP of Spain, the GDP of Portugal and the GDP of Germany combined. It is not possible. It is just not possible for so few people to have this much money while so many people have so little. There must be some kind of balance if we want to end hunger and achieve social justice in this country,” said President Lula about the meetings he had throughout his trip.

Lula emphasized the invitations made to the leaders he met during the trip to actively participate in the G20, currently under Brazil’s presidency, with its Summit scheduled for November 18 and 19 in Rio de Janeiro. Before that, in July, the Brazilian government plans to launch a program to combat hunger and poverty within the framework of the G20. The president noted the enthusiasm among the leaders to join the event and urged business leaders to accompany them, aiming to expand international trade.

"I have been inviting the presidents, telling them: Look, I would like you to come to Brazil and bring many businesspeople with you so that they meet with Brazilian entrepreneurs and negotiate, because we must increase our countries' profitability, foreign trade and the trade flows. And this is done by businesses, not by the government. Governments just open the doors,” said Lula.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE – Another topic addressed by the president was the importance of more effective and inclusive global governance, a theme discussed in the G7 and which is a cornerstone of the G20 under Brazil's presidency. "We have never been on such a promising path as we are now regarding the need for change in all aspects of global governance, from the composition of the Security Council to the participation of various continents and the functioning of the Bretton Woods institutions, which are currently not effective. What they do currently is suffocate countries and we need them to help countries," he argued.

EU AGREEMENT – The president also mentioned he revisited talks about concluding the agreement between the European Union and Mercosul in a meeting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen. "I return optimistic that Mercosul is prepared to conclude this agreement; I believe it will be advantageous for South America, Mercosul and for businesses and governments in the European Union," he said.

ENERGY – During his engagements in Italy, Lula discussed with representatives of the Italian company Enel, which handles energy distribution in parts of the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Ceará, about potentially renewing their concession contracts. He noted past issues that have caused power outages in their service areas but mentioned that Enel had now committed to increasing investments to enhance service quality. "We are open to renewing the agreement if they commit to making these investments and they have made that commitment. Instead of investing R$ 11 billion, they will invest R$ 20 billion over the next three years, promising no more outages in any area they serve," he said. Next week, Lula and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, are expected to decide on the contract renewal proposal with the company.

IMMIGRATION – Before the press conference, on the last day of his G7 agenda, President Lula met with the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Olaf Scholz and with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who had invited him to participate in the Summit. Lula told the press that he invited Meloni to visit Brazil to connect with the nearly 30 million descendants of Italians living in the country; he also extended an invitation to the German leader to join the celebration of the bicentennial of German immigration to Brazil. "We are celebrating 150 years since Italian immigration and 200 years since German immigration. We have also invited the German government to participate in the celebration, which will take place in São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul," he stated.

ECONOMY – The President also expressed optimism about Brazil's foreign policy and economic future. "My goal is to elevate the Brazilian economy to the ranking of world's sixth largest by the end of my term. We reached sixth place in 2011, dropped to 12th and now we are already eighth," he stated.

G7 – On Friday (14th), President Lula addressed the G7 working session on artificial intelligence, energy, Africa and the Mediterranean. This marked his eighth participation in the G7 summits. Lula proposed establishing global governance for artificial intelligence, advocated for taxing the super-rich and emphasized the importance of leading an inclusive digital revolution and addressing climate change with a focus on human dignity. On the same day, he held bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission representative Ursula Von der Leyen, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Erdoğan and Pope Francis.

ILO – At the launch of the Global Coalition for Social Justice during the 112th International Labour Conference on Thursday (13), the President emphasized his commitment to workers' rights in a complex and changing global scenario. Co-chaired by Lula and the Director-General of the ILO, Gilbert Houngbo, the Coalition aims to be a central venue to help build a just transition with decent work and equality and to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. During the event, Lula met with Houngbo and held a bilateral meeting with the President of the Swiss Confederation, Viola Amherd.