Iohannis and Lula da Silva, mutual commitment for the revitalization of relations between Romania and Brazil

“The central message of my visit is Romania’s commitment to deepening and dynamizing relations with your country, for the benefit of our nations. Together with President Lula da Silva, we adopted the Joint Declaration on the development of bilateral relations. This document confirms the mutual commitment to the revitalization of our relations in the coming years and, at the same time, provides the guidance and political impetus necessary to expand contacts between the two countries, at all levels and in all areas of mutual interest”, said the visiting President Klaus Iohannis official in Brazil.

Iohannis and Lula da Silva also discussed ways to deepen the existing cooperation, but also to expand it to new areas, such as research in the field of agriculture, digitization, climate change, education and culture, for the benefit of both states.

“We agreed that it is necessary to continue joint efforts to encourage businessmen from our countries to identify and start joint projects, as well as to stimulate mutual investments. I reiterated, at the same time, the commitment to continue the very good cooperation between our countries on subjects of common interest at the multilateral level. During the talks with Mr. President, we obviously also addressed the complex regional and global developments. I presented to the President our vision regarding the security situation at the border of Romania and the war of aggression launched by Russia against Ukraine. Romania’s message, as a neighboring state and with the longest border among the European Union and NATO states with Ukraine, is clear, strong and must be understood by our partners: no matter how Moscow tries to justify its actions, Russia is an aggressor state, which forcibly violated the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and tried to annul its independence, also violating the UN Charter. Ukraine is the victim of Russian aggression. All the negative effects of this global aggression are the direct consequence of his action, contrary to international law. The international community has the duty to support Ukraine to reject aggression and to win this war for the liberation of the country”, said the head of state.

According to him, Romania will continue undeterred to support Ukraine, and any support for the security of Ukraine is, in fact, support for the security of Romania and its citizens.

“I also presented to the President the consequences of the war in multiple ways, from the situation of refugees to the energy or food crisis. Against the background of the global food crisis generated by the war, Romania and Brazil, agricultural producers and food suppliers, have become important contributors to food security. I want to assure Brazil of our country’s and my personal support for the advancement of the European Union – Brazil agenda, through projects that will bring benefits to Brazilian and European citizens. We therefore support the completion of the trade agreement between the European Union and MERCOSUR as soon as possible. I assured Mr. President that I personally support the efforts so that this year we have a historic European Union – Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Summit, with important results. We will get involved in the success of this event, in order to place biregional relations on a more promising and sustainable trajectory. We also discussed the accession process of our countries to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, following the invitation received by Romania and Brazil, on January 25, 2022, to start accession negotiations. I thank President Lula da Silva, whom I invited to pay a visit to Romania, for the discussions we had and I express my conviction that the relations between our countries will become stronger”, said President Klaus Iohannis.