President will participate in the Celac-EU Summit and wants to address the tension in Venezuela and the US naval movement in the Caribbean; return will be direct to the Climate Summit in Belém
The president (PT) travels to Colombia over the weekend to participate in the 4th Celac-EU Summit (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the European Union), which will be held on November 9th and 10th in Santa Marta.
On the eve of the trip, Lula indicated that he intends to take the debate on the situation in Venezuela and the United States military presence in the region to the CELAC meeting. “The Celac meeting only makes sense at this moment if we are going to discuss this issue of American warships here in the seas of Latin America”, said the president on Tuesday (4.nov).
Lula is expected to participate in the meeting on Sunday (Nov 9) and returns to Belém on Monday (Nov 10), where he officially opens COP30, the UN climate conference.
The president has been in Belém since Saturday (Nov 1). The trip to Colombia changed Lula’s initial plans, as he intended to go to Fernando de Noronha (PE) over the weekend to launch a solar energy project.
According to Lula, the continent must be treated as a “zone of peace.
“I had the opportunity to talk to President Trump about this subject, telling him that Latin America is a zone of peace. Nuclear weapons do not proliferate here. […] The problem that exists in Venezuela is a political problem that must be resolved through politics,” said Lula.
Colombia currently holds the rotating presidency of Celac and hosts the meeting in partnership with the European Union.
The relationship between the 2 blocs also marks Lula’s agenda this Wednesday (Nov 5), in Belém, where the president has 9 bilateral meetings before the Leaders’ Summit on the 6th and 7th of November. Among them is a meeting with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
In addition, meetings are taking place with the heads of state of Finland, Honduras, Congo, Comoros, Suriname and Papua New Guinea, the vice-prime minister of China, Ding Xuexiang, and the president of the African Development Bank, Sidi Ould Tah.
To the Dome of Leaders
The Leaders’ Summit (formally called the Belém Climate Summit) is held on November 6th and 7th as a high-level preparatory meeting. The meeting aims to establish political commitments before COP30 (30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Convention), from 10 to 21 November.
The event will feature authorities from 143 delegations from the 198 signatory countries of the UN Climate Convention, as well as multilateral bodies, such as the World Bank and the International Energy Agency.
In total, 57 heads of state and 39 ministers confirmed their presence at the summit. Among the expected leaders are Emmanuel Macron (France) and Keir Starmer (United Kingdom).
President Lula will open the speeches on Thursday (Nov 6). The agenda includes the launch of the TFFF (Tropical Forests Forever Fund), and the discussion on climate finance, biofuels, oceans and forest preservation. During a meeting of heads of state, the president must demand climate goals and wants to draw up new financing models, especially for actions in developing countries.
It is the first time that a COP has been held in the Amazon. The location is considered strategic as it is the largest tropical forest in the world.
