President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Monday once again defended the idea of a common currency for regional trade in South America, replacing the U.S. dollar.
“Among the options [for financial integration] is the adoption of a specific reference currency for regional trade that will not eliminate the respective national currencies,” Lula said, in a joint press statement alongside the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández.
Last week in Paris, Lula reiterated the need for developing countries to trade in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, a topic he promised to address at the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa in September.
Earlier this year, Brazil and China signed an agreement to facilitate bilateral trade and investment by conducting transactions directly in Brazilian reais and Chinese yuan without needing U.S. dollars as an intermediary currency.
Presidents Lula and Fernández did not take questions from the press.
This was Mr. Fernandéz’s fourth visit to Brazil this year. He attended Lula’s inauguration on January 1, followed by a bilateral visit in early May and a later trip for the South American summit.
Mr. Fernández’s visit is far from the top of Argentina’s political agenda, as all eyes there are focused on Vice President Cristina Kirchner’s alliance with Economy Minister Sergio Massa, who on June 24 was officially anointed as the Peronists’ presidential candidate.
The pair is currently seen as the real decision-makers in Argentina’s ruling coalition, as President Fernández has been relegated to a more ceremonial role, with his agenda more often than not looking half-empty.
Mr. Fernández’s second-to-last visit to Brazil in May was seen as chaotic and even slightly humiliating, following Lula’s joke about Mr. Fernández coming back from his country with “political support, but no money.”
Lula’s Brazil was among the Latin American countries backing Argentina in its negotiations with the Joe Biden administration to push the International Monetary Fund to accept more flexible repayment conditions following a devastating drought that has complicated loan repayments.
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