Lula goes to Saudi Arabia and Qatar in search of petrodollars – 11/27/2023 – World

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) began this Monday (27) a series of trips abroad that will have as its initial stop nations in the Middle East with an oil economy in which the main objective is to start sealing investment partnerships .

The PT member leaves in the early afternoon for Riyadh, the Saudi capital, his first stop and where he will be staying on Tuesday (28) and Wednesday (29). Since the end of the previous government, led by Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the authoritarian monarchy has signaled interest in expanding its investment portfolio in Brazil.

Throughout this second semester, according to Itamaraty, Saudi business missions came to Brazil to expand prospecting. In September, during the G20 summit in New Delhi, Lula met with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, who showed interest in areas such as oil, gas and renewable sources.

Still under the Bolsonaro government, Riyadh had already signaled its interest in investing US$10 billion in Brazil — today the balance of exports and imports between the two countries, according to updated Comex data, amounts to around US$5.6 billion annually. However, the hammer remains to be hammered out in investment areas.

On the part of Brasília, one of the main objectives is to present the portfolio of possibilities offered by the New PAC, the Growth Acceleration Program resumed during the Lula 3 administration.

Controversially, the figure of Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS, as he is known, is not well-liked in the global community, despite Saudi’s economic strength based on oil. American intelligence believes that MbS ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, tortured and dismembered in 2018.

Still, United States President Joe Biben himself has already met and greeted the crown prince. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was also with MbS at the beginning of his term and called him “almost a brother”. He even invited the Saudi to come to Brazil, but the visit did not materialize.

Afterwards, Lula goes to neighboring Qatar, where he will stay until Thursday (30). The PT member had already received invitations from Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to be in Doha, one of them following his visit to China in April. The objective is also to attract investment to Brazil, but the trip is partly dominated by debates about the Israel-Hamas war.

The emirate has gained prominence in the Arab world and in the West due to the leading role it assumed as a mediator in the conflict, as in the agreement that last week allowed a ceasefire in hostilities during which Israeli hostages were released by Hamas, as well as Palestinian prisoners were released by Tel Aviv.

Thus, Brasília’s idea is to bargain for support in demands for the repatriation of Brazilians who are still in Gaza. Brazilian diplomacy has already drawn up a new list with 86 names of people to be removed from Gaza across the border with Egypt and repatriated.

The first group of repatriates from Gaza, made up of 32 people, disembarked in Brazil at the beginning of the second half of November after an imbroglio so they could leave Gaza that led to uneasiness with Israeli diplomacy.

From Doha, after completing his bilateral trips, Lula will go to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, to participate in the 28th UN Conference on Climate Change, COP28. Expectations regarding Brazilian participation are high among its global partners due to the fact that the Lula 3 government has resumed the climate agenda and placed it on the international agenda after the marginalization of the issue in the previous government.

Chancellor Mauro Vieira meets with Lula only at this stop, in the United Arab Emirates. The diplomat’s trip to Riyadh and Doha was prevented by the fact that the UN Security Council, now chaired on a rotating basis by China, had called for a meeting at ministerial level this week to discuss the war in the Middle East.

Brazil saw its presidency of the body throughout the month of October dominated by the conflict and experienced frustration when it failed to approve resolutions calling for an end to the conflict and the sending of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The sequence of coups ended in a harsh speech — Vieira said that the council is experiencing a “morally unacceptable paralysis”.

Finally, on Sunday, December 3rd, President Lula leaves for Berlin, where he has a series of meetings with members of Prime Minister Olaf Scholz’s government. The prime minister was one of the first global leaders to make an official state visit to Brazil during the Lula 3 government, back in January. Also in this first year of administration, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, was in the country.

One of the main objectives of the trip to the European country is to put the foot on the accelerator for the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, which Brazilian diplomacy still claims is possible to seal this year, despite skepticism. Minister Marina Silva, of the Environment, will accompany Lula — it is the environmental conditions of the text, after all, that are the main obstacle that has delayed its signature.