Lula returns to defending the common currency of Mercosur and Brics and signs agreements with Spain

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) once again defended the creation of common currencies for negotiations between countries that form economic blocs and signed three bilateral agreements with Spain, in a ceremony held this Wednesday morning (26) in Madrid.

In an impromptu speech after a meeting with President Pedro Sánchez, Lula said he was in favor of creating a “negotiation currency” between the countries of the economic blocs that Brazil participates in, such as Mercosur and the BRICs – a group that also brings together the Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“I am in favor, in the case of Brazil with South America, that we create a currency to trade and trade, which here in the Brics [se crie] a trading currency between our countries like the Europeans created the Euro. It is not possible, we created the Banco dos Brics [Novo
Banco de Desenvolvimento] and he wants it to become a big investment bank, bigger than the World Bank if possible,” he said.

At the beginning of the year, Lula said he was studying the creation of a common currency together with the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, which would be used for transactions between nations, with the aim of reducing dependence on the US dollar. The decrease in the use of the US currency in international commercial transactions was also defended by him on his trip to China, almost two weeks ago.

bilateral agreements

In addition to talking about the new currency, Lula signed three bilateral agreements in the areas of education, work and science and technology. The president repeated again the importance of the Iberian country in the Brazilian economy, as the second foreign investor with more than a thousand companies.

One of the agreements promotes the mobility of undergraduate and graduate students (masters and doctorates), at any stage of training, and of professors between higher education institutions of the other signatory.

On the other hand, it encourages increased labor productivity, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises, and supports necessary reforms in union relations systems in order to encourage membership of all workers.

And also, lay the groundwork for greater and better coordination of bilateral development projects and technological innovation between Brazilian and Spanish companies, such as research in health, environment and climate change, energy transition, higher quality food and added value , new resources for Industry 4.0, cleaner or more sustainable production, mobility and advanced transport, information and communications technologies.

Lula also said that he intends to travel to South Africa to participate in a meeting of the Brics and to Belgium to deal with bilateral business with Celac agendas, among other countries.

President Lula has been in Spain since Monday (25) after a five-day trip to Portugal, where he participated in a solemn ceremony at the Assembly of the Republic in reference to the Carnation Revolution. The president was the target of protests during the speech, including parliamentarians against the successive speeches in which he relativized the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Still this Wednesday (26), the president participates in a meeting with King Felipe VI and, at the end of the afternoon, returns to Brazil.