President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defended on Monday, the 25th, that the world should not be the subject of hegemonic impositions and that no country will be able to comply with transnational organized crime alone.
Lula’s statement is an indirect response to actions in the Donald Trump government’s commercial and military field: the tariff that hit Brazil and global trade and the sending of military troops through naval force to work in the Caribbean and Latin America against drug cartels.
Washington promised to use full strength and focused on the Venezuela government, led by dictator Nicolás Maduro. The movement of war ships and about 4,500 military personnel worried the Planalto Palace, due to the potential of a conflict and instability that an intervention could generate on the northern border of the country.
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Lula received the president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, in the Planalto Palace. He said both countries bet on “in free trade and productive integration,” in the current context of resurgence of “protectionism and unilateralism.”
“We are committed to building a world of peace and free from hegemonic impositions,” said the petista.
Lula highlighted his commitment to the multilateralism of both countries and support to the World Trade Organization (WTO), directed by Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The agency does not work fully by US objection, but Brazil has decided to open a process of dispute against Trump’s tariff.
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The president said he had centrally argued with the Nigerian issues related to combating internal trafficking, terrorism and organized crime. Lula called the articulation of criminal factions beyond the national borders of a “wicked consequence” of globalization.
“No country will in isolation be able to address transnational crime,” said Lula, who recognized the need for urgent but “multilateral” and “coordinates” actions. He said he will send a federal police attaché to act in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
Lula complained about the lack of priority given to Africa by previous governments who were politically and economically distanced themselves that the consequence was the fall in trade. In 2014, commercial flow was $ 10 billion.
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According to Itamaraty, Nigeria was Brazil’s fourth largest commercial partner in Africa last year. Commercial flow reached $ 2 billion, 20% more than in 2023.
Currently, Brazilian exports to the country are concentrated in sugars and moves (74%). Imports, in fertilizers (48%) and oil and derivatives (48%).
President Tinubu, in turn, charged Petrobras’ presence in his country, for business development in the energy sector, and requested the manufacture of generic medicines in Nigeria.
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He said Nigeria is the 10th largest oil producer in the world, but not generating value for its population, it is like having a “dead asset.”
“I do not see why the manufacture of generic medicines, to which Brazil has advanced a lot, can not be done in Nigeria. I do not see why Brazil’s technological superiority is not shared with Africa,” said Tinubu. “We have the largest gas reserve and I don’t see why Petrobras wouldn’t invest in Nigeria as soon as possible. And I thank Lula’s promise that this will be done as soon as possible.”
Africa is a new border. There is no other way to do this but embrace technology, scientific development, research and development, food sovereignty and manufacturing techniques.
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The petista stated that the ceremony marks Brazil’s return to the African continent, without seeking a hegemonic, but solidary, fraternal and egalitarian relationship.
The president stated that technological cooperation, for example in agriculture, was a way to compensate “the 300 years of slavery to which the black people were subjected here in Brazil” and “cannot be measured in cash.”
The president stated that there are “broad avenues of cooperation” between Brazil and Nigeria in the fields of agriculture, aircraft and machinery and stressed the need to expand air connections.
The president announced the creation of a direct flight between Lagos and Sao Paulo operated by Air Peace, the largest Nigerian Air Company. The country has 230 million inhabitants.
Ministers of the Brazilian and Nigerian governments signed agreements to explore air services, with a view to establishing a commercial route between countries, cooperating in the formation of diplomats, creating a mechanism for political consultations and scientific collaboration. In the financial sector, BNDES and Nigeria’s bunch of agriculture narrowed cooperation.
