Brazil’s da Silva visits Cairo and calls for a strategic partnership
The leaders of Egypt and Brazil pledged to forge closer ties between their countries, as they celebrated the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The two countries officially established bilateral relations in 1924, although consular ties date back to 1906.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, after talks with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo, that he wanted relations between the two countries to be elevated to a “strategic partnership”. He called for an increase in annual trade between the two countries, which he said stood at $2 billion.
“We must bolster bilateral relations in all possible fields like culture, defence, economy, technology and science,” he said on Thursday.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi praised Mr da Silva for his efforts to strengthen ties between Egypt and Brazil.
“We have agreed during our talks to bolster our bilateral relations in all political, economic, industrial, agricultural and cultural fields,” Mr El Sisi said.
The two sides, he added, agreed to set up a joint committee to co-ordinate the areas and goals of their bilateral ties.
Egypt and Brazil are members of the Summit of South American-Arab Countries, which was established under Mr da Silva’s presidency in 2005.
In 2003, he became the first Brazilian leader since Emperor Pedro II in the 1800s to visit the Arab world, despite Brazil now being home to the largest Arab community outside the Middle
East, with more than 16 million claiming Arab descent.
Mr da Silva also met Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Cairo.
The Brazilian leader will attend a meeting of the organisation as a guest.
Egypt borders Gaza and Israel and Mr El Sisi noted that Brazil has recognised the state of Palestine. The Egyptian leader said he looked forward to visiting Brazil later this year.
Mr da Silva said there was no justification for the scale of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 28,600 Palestinians. Israel launched its military campaign after Hamas’s October 7 attack, in which 1,200 people were killed.
Lamenting what he called the UN’s inability to stop the Gaza war, the Brazilian leader said Israel’s killing of women and children in the enclave was unprecedented.
“War is mostly started by crazy decisions and the Russia-Ukraine war is an example of that. I have no explanation for that war,” he said.