Lula reschedules China trip for April 11

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has rescheduled his trip to China for April 11, the presidential press office tells The Brazilian Report. The trip will last until April 14 and will include visits to both Beijing and Shanghai. Further details have yet to be announced.

Lula’s trip to China was originally scheduled for March 26 to 31 but was canceled after the president was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia last week.

Lula’s delegation to China would include more than 240 business owners, cabinet ministers, and lawmakers. More than 20 agreements between the two nations were expected to be signed, including ones on agriculture, science, culture, education, and innovation. The trip was also to include a Brazil-China business event focused on development and sustainability.

Because of the postponement, Lula missed the inauguration of his one-time protégé, former President Dilma Rousseff, as head of the Shanghai-based New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the “BRICS bank.” Still, an inauguration ceremony is set to take place in April, with Lula in attendance.

Nominating Ms. Rousseff to replace Brazilian career diplomat Marcos Troyjo was a vindication of sorts for Lula, Ms. Rousseff, and their Workers’ Party — as the left continues to claim that her 2016 impeachment was a coup, even though it followed all constitutional rules.

Since taking office on January 1, Lula has outlined an ambitious diplomatic agenda with many international trips. He visited Argentina and Uruguay in January and met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House in February. 

At a meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) in Buenos Aires, Lula won the region’s support for the Amazonian city of Belém to host the UN Climate Change Conference in 2025. Before that, Brazil will host the G20 conference in 2024.

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